15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are Black

Race politics can be complicated and bi-racial stars often find themselves on one side of the Hollywood divide. Unsurprisingly, for the stars in this list that side tends to be the white one, with most people not even realizing these actors, actresses, and public personas are in fact mixed — and for all intents and purposes, black.

Wentworth Miller

The “Prison Break” star has a black father and a white mother, and ironically got his start as an actor in the movie “The Human Stain,” where he played a black man passing for white. But since then, he’s played characters that the audience assumes are white.

Meghan Markle

“Suits” actress Meghan Markle has an African-American mother and a white father.

Rashida Jones

Take a poll and most “Parks and Recreation” fans won’t know that Rashida Jones is the daughter of music mogul Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton.

Maya Rudolph

Maya Rudolph has played a host of racially ambiguous characters. But she’s actually Minnie Ripperton’s daughter with music composer Richard Rudolph.

Cash Warren

Producer Cash Warren is most famous for being Jessica Alba’s husband. They don’t look like an interracial couple at first glance. But Cash Warren is actually the son of Hill Street Blues actor Michael Warren.

Jennifer Beals

The “Flashdance” star has been acting for decades. But even after her role in “Devil in a Blue Dress,” many of her fans don’t know she’s biracial.

Troian Bellisario

It wasn’t until news correspondent Soledad O’Brien appeared on CNN’s “Black in America” that the world realized that she was black. Her father is Afro-Cuban and her mother is Australian.

Carol Channing

The famous Broadway performer started her career in the 40s and 50s as a white actress. She didn’t reveal to the world that her father was black until 2002, when she was around 80 years old.

Michael Fosberg

Action movie actor Michael Fosberg didn’t know that he was passing when he played white characters. He was 32 and well into his career before his mother revealed to him that the man he knew as his father wasn’t and that his real dad was a black man.

Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel says that he identifies as a “person of color,” but most people don’t know that his mother is white and his father is black.

Darnell Martin

When Darnell Martin produced “I Like It Like That” in 1994, she was the first black woman to write and direct a film for a major Hollywood studio. Only very few people know that Darnell’s father was black so the milestone wasn’t properly celebrated.

Gabrielle Reece

The volleyball star’s father is Trinidadian. He was killed in a plane crash when Gabrielle was just five years old.

Daniel Sunjata

The “Rescue Me” star is often typcast as a Lation actor, but he’s actually half black and half white.

Dwayne Jonson

Most people are aware that Dwayne is “ambiguously ethnic”. But not everyone knows that he’s actually half black and half Samoan.

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Comment Disclaimer: Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN

Mimi

You can see that Mechanical Marble is of mixed ethnicity. Who are you trying to fool!

Wake-up Sheeple

Shame on y’all. These people are more white than black. Why call them black eh? They ain’t black, they’re beige/white

roger alva

Quit calling people that are not vlack-“black”, please the game is over. While blacks try-blacks get to mix. It’s called scaving people off with the illusions the bullshit. While they try to mix with white, light or what have you. It basicly evolution with a ‘smoke-screen/using a smoke-screen. Do please cut it out. I know why the blacks are ctrying to everybody black, but it kills me when white play along with this-there bullshit in order to hang on, survive a la a society by using the people who are not black by calling them ‘black’. Please cut it out white people and others who cater to this propaganda 1 drop bullshit! Probably because of by all means thinking with the ‘wrong-head’ ! You look seem quit stupid when doing being ‘pimped’

All of them are biracial! What is this shit? Biracial people don’t need either side trying to claim us, a half Japanese and half white is neither Japanese nor white, same goes for black. Dumb analogy but you ever seen a cake advertised as an egg just because it has eggs in it? No so why are you labeling mixed people as black or white? They are mixed get over it.

wilter3614

Race is a social construct, not a biological one. There are no taxonomic differences between races. The difference in skin color is the same as the difference in hair color or eye color. Anyone can label themselves whatever race the want. What can’t be done is angle defining anyone else’s race. Some biracial people prefer to call themselves black because society has seen them as black. Some, like myself, have always identify with both races. None of these celebrities have denied their heritage. This is more a comment on hour much emphasis we put on defining a person by what they look like. Assumptions are often wrong, as seen here.

Aniyah Sydney Renne Tifari

The article should be titled “celebrities who passed as white”

george woelfel

Having one black parent doesn’t make you black. Hybrid perhaps is a better term. Of course all homogenized races will feel lesser if us hybrids start using that term instead of bi racial.

Roger Lee

Anyone who knows anything about race would know that all these people are not white; you might not know that they were part black – they could be anything – but it is obvious that they are all mixed, even Channing, who looks like Diana Ross. There are very few really black people in America, black in the sense that white people are white, with no or almost no other ancestry. Almost all are mixed to one degree or another with white, so you can hardly classify them as one race. If you want to know what a real black person looks like, look at Idi Amin or Obama’s supposed Kenyan father. And no, Nelson Mandela is not black, but mixed.

alasia min

Mixed people are mixed period. Both of their parents count. Also you have to acknowledge that many black americans have admixture so the children of a white american and black american are probably mostly white

ok?

by calling one of the parents “black”, I’m 99% sure they mean half black. Black American people in general aren’t completely black tbh

MyndYaNeck

This list is contrived by someone ignorant who obviously ascribes to the White Supremacist 1 drop rule. Bi racials should have been their own class by now. They were before 1860 census. Some insist on calling themselves black then wonder why the confusion abounds. Our people who insist on calling them black usually do so out of ignorance or low self esteem (needing desperately to be loved and accepted by someone outside of yourself) I, for one, am tired of the dilution of our community. Be proud of who you are, but at least be honest. 1/2 Black + 1/2 White does not equal Black. simple Math and Genetics 101. smh.

Joyce Hajjar

all of these pretty ladies could have attended the Quadroon balls of old New Orleans

rancid pitts

As for me, It matters not what race they come from. They are successful and it makes their mothers proud and that is all that really matters in life.People are surprised to find out what my family is; I make no secret of it. My mom is proud of me.

Sully

They say (the various genealogy testing sites) the average African American is 20% European and about 1% Native American. One the other hand, it’s believed that around 6 million European Americans are of Black African ancestry. Go figure.

Jossif

WTF!? If one of your parent is black it doesn’t make you black. Well maybe in US it does…

Nelson

OMG I can’t believe why Americans like to TAG people just because of their color or the color of somebody’s ancestors. We are all human beings, no mater color or race!

Ian Nairn

This article just shows how pointless race is. A blond blue person can now be considered as black, just because a parent was black or partially black? I have blue eyes and no one would ever confuse me for a black person.

Lance Carstens

With all this talk about race & people having black ancestry, it was interesting to watch a series of programs that have been made within the last couple of years concerning the history of the human race using genetic markers to trace the spread of mankind across the globe. I’m sure some will dispute the findings, but it’s hard to argue with scientific research, and it found that all humans have ancestry that can be traced to Africans who migrated from there in two waves, between two and four hundred thousand years ago. Yep, we ALL have black ancestry in us, no matter what our current skin color.

This article is obviously click bait, but they should get more creative with it. give us 15 people that are of mixed ethnicity, but look black, and then title the article, 15 celebrities you didn’t know were white. Then let the fireworks begin.

spookym

Seems more like a “15 Blacks Most People Don’t Know Are Celebrities” list.

Freword

Not really

dracus

Jessica Alba is also supposed to be part black so she and Cash Warren are not an “interracial couple” in the black guy/white girl sense. They are two interracial individuals who formed a couple. Probably the safest choice for someone in their shoes, so they don’t have to worry about someone having a problem with their background.

Also you are running another article about celebs who are biracial…will we see the same names in the other article? Because so far the same thing is being discussed here, black and white mixed celebs but you are calling them black here, like make up your mind, Mr/Ms Editor.

otlndr

Being part black does not make you ‘for all intents and purposes’ ‘black’. It makes you biracial or mixed. If a paper asks what you are you can put whichever you like. My great great grandmother was black. Does that make me so? The fact is that racial purity is pretty much a myth. Almost everyone will find people of other races in their family trees. Does that mean that most everyone in the world is black?

Also I love how so many of these list the nationalities…but then treat all of Africa like it’s just one country. They interchange nationality and color a lot on this.

And by the way folks. …ethnic does not mean non white or non American. Open a dictionary. Everyone is ethnic.

Race is not that important. The sooner people realize that the sooner peace and love for our fellow man will abound. Which probably means we’ll always have war and hatred….because too many people from EVERY race are too caught up on race.

As for me….if I refer to someones race I do so off how they look. I don’t care what their ancestry is. The only reason we should even consider a persons race is if we need to describe them. Otherwise it’s just skin deep.

Color is just color. A persons culture….and even more so their own attitude. …is what they should be judged on.

Meowhiss

I had a friend whose mother told her that her father was black — he was Arab not black — she told her that because she did not want her daughter being raciest. Don’t believe everything they say believe what you see. African features will be noticeable if one is 1/4 or more black. After that it can vary.

Missy

What possible difference does it make???? She is a beautiful talented lady that brought musical pleasure to the whole world for years and I loved her. I didn’t give a hoot if she was blue with orange stripes. Just like Eartha Kitt .. so talented and so determined struggling for years to find her parents and have it snatched away to protect some unknown white man…. so unfair. I loved Eartha too and I think old Lady Bird treated her shabbily when she answered the question old Birdie asked. Anyway the parallel here is one hid her blackness and the other sought her whiteness all her life. I love both of these ladies.

Trini2th3b0n3

Trinidadian doesn’t automatically mean black. I’m a trinidadian its a nationality not an enthnicty or race of people. Trinidad and Tobago is a country, a twin island state.

Randy

1/2 black or less and something else mixed in doesn’t make you Black.

Kimmie

Madame Noire why don’t you spend time representing our self-identified black race and stop trying to force bi-racials down our throats or force them to claim their blackness on the low. We don’t need to make anyone be apart of our race. As someone already stated, our self-esteem as blacks is not built on them claiming their blackness. Please let them go form their own entertainment blogs and stop filling this one up with junk like this or them period. You could have dedicated this space to discuss projects by Nia Long, Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Brely Evans, Naomie Harris, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and countless other self-identified blacks in entertainment, sports and media that go unnoticed.

Kimmie

Why are we black folks always claiming these bi-racials?! Most of them have issues with blackness or prefer to be considered more white because of the privilege attached. They go on and on about black people giving them a hard time about blackness when the whites were the ones that created the “one drop rule”, yet you rarely read or hear them going at whites. They attack blacks as if black people have real power in this country when it comes to racial categorization. Please give them their own damn racial category so they can be happy to be socially categorized as “not one of those blacks”, and get them the hell away from us. I am sick of them representing blackness in movies and media period, anyway. i would prefer to see some true black people or at least proudly self-identified blacks in those roles. Please don’t claim us and leave us alone just as much as you want to be separated from us. Ugh. Madame Noire please stop pandering behind these bi-racials people and use your blog to represent the plethora of proud black-identified actresses, actors, music entertainers and athletes.

Londongirl

Non of these people are black. Having some black descent does not make you black. Mixed race maybe, not black

Run

Try as they might, Rashida Jones Maya Rudolph could never deny being at least part black. They shouldn’t be listed, because everyone has always known that they were black. Ditto Cash Warren. His wife, Jessica Alba, is black too…black Hispanic, but black nevertheless.

Satine Walter

Pretty obvious for most of them in my opinion.

Oji

i was going to make an angry post in the comment section but everybody else did that for me. i’ve resigned myself to scrolling through the comments while eating a bag of popcorn… pausing now and again to facepalm… my face is all buttery now.

sazon

Soledad’s MOM is Afro-Cuban, her dad is Irish. And I don’t know how anyone couldn’t tell that she was part black.

ellafino

You know who else would say “for all intents and purposes they’re black”, white supremacists.

thmsd

None of these people are black!!!!!!! Who cares about race anyway besides tv? Tv wants all black actors to be and sound white anyway

Yahawashi ForIsrael

The seed is determined by the father NOT the mother. Just because a persons mother is black does not make them black. Its the FATHER that determines the seed or Nationality. There is no such thing as being “MIXED” or “BIRACIAL” Ancestry is PATERNAL not maternal. Man carries seed (DNA/nationality) women just nourish the fetus. So if the FATHER is black then the child therefore is black.

Bella

This article is so saddening. All you blacks (mostly women) commenting are delusional. Black people are the only group of people who considers a mixed person to be all of something. If you have a white flower and a red flower, you would get neither white nor red, but a MIXTURE of both, that’s just sheer logic! It’s truly sad that calling these multi/bi-racial people is somehow making you feel better about yourselves or about the black race as a whole; how much do you want to bet most of you have taken this article and said to someone “see blacks come in all shades (which is true, but you can’t take the anomaly and apply it to the majority). Do you guys even realize your own hypocrisy??? You are taking the Jim Crow law and inverting it for yourself! Remember the “one drop rule; one ounce makes you whole?” No, these people are NOT black, they are MIXED. Black people need cultural privacy, then maybe your race wouldn’t be at the bottom. Stop being the race accommodating everyone because they will just step over you and leave you at the bottom. Stop getting offended and start taking ACCOUNTABILITY, not everyone is trying to hurt you; but understand no one is going to pacify you either. I’m sure I get thumbs downed and flagged and the women will come after me in droves, and call me a “racist” (albeit I’ve said not one racist thing) but you will only further verify my claims. Either way take care.

Run

Well, by that logic most blacks are not black. Who gets to decide where to draw the line…YOU? I don’t think so. For political reasons, biracials with black parents and grandparents are probably best served to consider themselves to be black. That’s ultimately how whites are going to view them unless it suits their temporary need to do otherwise.

bigmoe45

wow white people I guess if your not all white that makes one black by their book.

Fury Evan’s

Expected to see Mariah Carey in this list. Was very dissapointed. >< She's bi-racial. Her mother is Irish and her father is African American/Venezuelan.

Anyways, I was quite surprised about Carol Channing. O.O

Fee

Gabrielle Reece’s father was Trinidadian but I guess we should assume he was black? There are many different ethnicities in TnT

Bajangal

By the way, in reference to Gabrielle Reece, Trinidadian is a nationality, not a race. Trinidadians are black, indian, white, of Syrian and Lebanese extraction and Spanish.

Lean

Does anyone realize that none of these people are actually Black but bi-racial. The headline is so misleading.

Run

By “Black” the article means “part Black”.

RainbowsMom

This “black” is so outrageous! Having a “drop of African blood” is old school slavery mentality. My daughter has brown skin, and some people always try to label her by skin color! Not by her MANY achievements, of which this mom is very proud – speaks 3 languages, has an almost 4 octave voice range, plays 3 instruments and is at the top of her class academically.She LAUGHED the first time someone told her she was “black”! She thought color was in a box of crayons! She was astounded when I explained some people thought the color of people’s SKIN was important. She asked if HAIR color was important.I told her, if someone insists on labeling by skin tone, the only accurate label is African French English Native American – or just American. Or her name. But don’t answer to anything else.

Run

It is barbaric, but wh!te people started it, and they tend to do barbaric things. That’s the way they get down when it comes to race: anything to marginalize blacks and confuse the issues!

SCENARIO: Lets say I’m invited to a party. There are 15 white people already there when I walk in and make it 16. According to the “one drop rule” (also the “1/16th rule”), the music has to change. It just became a “black” party, because 1/16th of the party is black! Lol.

So there’s something very stupid about all of this. How can a portion of 1/16 legitimately be determinative of anything?

cphilano

It’s amazing how for years, decades, centuries even, have one black parent meant that you were Black, but now you are Bi-Racial. It cracks me up every time. Try telling that to Latinos that have one White parent. I bet you they don’t classify themselves as White. And by the way, no one in the United States is 100% Black.

You know the Jewish, Irish, German, Japanese, Russian, etc… like to point out who comes from their lineage all of the time, but Blacks do it and you all turn it into something negative. Grow the F up!

preston simms

anyone named rashida is automatically black

Juke Box

You wish. Rashida jones is clearly the blackiddy black black girl. And I’m sure all if the so called half black celebs parents are only half black themselves.

Run

Quincy is a “mutt” himself. I know, because my grandmother sang with him. I know his brother, who is a federal judge in Seattle. I see him quite frequently, and we have discussed their family background. Quincy’s niece also attended school with my mother.

Zeldas Champion

Actually Jennifer Beals is tri-racial. You forgot to mention she is also Semitic.

Michelle

Uh, Mariah Carey is half black, half white also….and left off this list.

DivaDivine

This article is mistitled and should be ‘Celebrities Most People Don’t Know are Biracial’

Bob Sprott

Beside the fact that I don’t know who half of these people are, who gives a husky f**k. Why is a person’s race still so damned important to some people? I know government programs are available to some races more than others but when push comes to shove it doesn’t mean a damn thing.

Phamous Black

Which government programs do you speak of?

Mr Marble

Does it really matter what race they are, half this half that, whoop de do!

DearSheetForBrains

How about Michael Jackson – people who are black but think that they are white.

Run

The Jacksons are technically mutts, too! I have read that one or both of Joseph’s parents was/were at least half white and part Spanish. The dude has green/hazel eyes!

I have also read (and gleaned from just looking), that they have quite a bit of Indian and/or Spanish blood. Despite the sizes of their original noses, their features, skin and hair resemble those of biracials or quadroons. Look at old pictures of them.What African-American names his/her son Sigmund Esco (referring to “Jackie”) or Tito?

Anonymous

The problem here is when they say someone’s mother or father is “black”, that it’s not 100% black…most of the people here who are cited as having a “black” mother or father are actually BI-RACIAL or multi-racial themselves

AynRandWasRight

The title of this article should be changed to “15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are Celbreties.” I recognized Jennifer Beals, Soledad O’Brien, Rashida Jones, Carol Channing, and Vin Diesel. Never heard of the rest.

Run

Vin Diesel is an A-Lister! He’s currently the star of one of the hottest and highest grossing action film franchises in entertainment history (The Fast and the Furious, R.I.P. Paul Walker). You’d better recognize!

jeanie

I think ‘most’ already knew, honestly… and they’re all biracial – not black, as the article title purports! CNN never lets me down — I know, straight away, the first article will get a big “Who the F… cares, Stupid!”

jeanie

I just want to add something.. Most of these so-called ‘blacks’ parents are actually bi-racial, as in the case of Quincy Jones (biracial) – so these kids are far removed from the black race. Most blacks in the US are more white than black – a fact!

Run

I wouldn’t go that far, because we do tend to overwhelmingly date, marry and reproduce within our own race, even today. But most of us are technically “multiracial”, which is why this retarded discourse – the result of white people’s fear in the 1600’s – is so stupid. But we are stuck with it.Humans are 85% the same genetically, so nobody can be called “mixed”.

Carol Lightfoot

Who cares??? Not me, I’m of European decent and damn proud of it. I never even heard of most of these idiots. I guess it’s cool to be black now with Obumbler in the WH. Disgusting race baiters.

Run

It has always been “cool to be Black”. Ignorant White people like you, and all too many Blacks, haven’t figured it out yet. When they do we will claim what is naturally ours – not by force or charity, but through intellect and achievement!

lls11VetteGS

Racism still exists because we cater to minorities & allow such things as, NAACP, UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND, BLACK MISS AMERICA, LATINO MISS AMERICA, BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION, BLACK HISTORY MONTH,THE LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS & movies like WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP. How do think any of these things would be received if they were created for WHITES only? Even the mere mention of any of things being created would cause mass riots in the streets, murders, looting, burning of entire neighborhoods. And yet, approaching 2014, & you can create any organization s you want that EXCLUDES white people & it’s met with open arms & CELEBRATED!

All of the above mentioned organizations, contests, etc AUTOMATICALLY EXCLUDE WHITE PEOPLE FROM PARTICIPATING. Quick, name 1 thing that automatically excludes another race form participating or reaping benefits from it OTHER THAN white people?? What? You can’t do it? Of course not, because they don’t exist & would never be allowed to exist because it would be racist. So why is OK the other way around.

The worst part is, by posting this I will be labeled a racist & a bigot, when every single word I wrote is a well known & verifiable fact supported by historical events.

Caucasian, the true minority of the 21st century……

Jeanie

I just ant to add that it’s ok to prefer one’s own race, one’s own culture, one’s own family of origin, no matter what you’re called or no matter what the media prints. The word racist is highly overused and inappropriately used. It’s used by people who feel inferior and must resort to name calling – just like in elementary school. Name callers need to get a grip, grow up and accept who they are and quit worrying about other peoples skin color!!

Run

I can agree with much of that!

Run

I’m Justin Timberlaking that whole post…what a sad joke! CRY ME A RIVER!Plus you lie anyways. Blacks don’t exclude whites from anything. You are leaders in our organizations, attend our churches and marry into our families with little or no resistance. We even freely employ you at black-owned businesses – which I think is actually quite stupid given the way you treat us.

dnny004

The one drop rule is alive and effect on this website.

Donald Graham

Not only did I not know that Soledad O’brien was black, I had always assumed he was a drag queen

Lucius Vanini

How ABSURD. People we don’t know are black! Anyone who IS black does not escape recognition. Who could’ve mistaken Louie.Armstrong’s race? Such individuals as look basically Caucasian but have some black African blood are not black; they’re of mixed race, often slightly. They can even be called virtually white. Funny how you unthinkingly accept the old Jim Crow definition of blackness, the “one drop” criterion.

Run

…because it serves our political needs today…exactly as it served to allay white people’s fears in past centuries. I can live with that! Whites caused this whole mess, and now they are mad that we play in it. Ain’t that about a B____?!

Carol Jean Marie

No, Soledad O’Brien’s MOTHER is Afro-Cuban, and her FATHER is Australian…you guys switched them

OliveJustine

This list is stupid and inaccurate. Being biracial doesn’t make one, just black. Also most of the people on this list are not even biracial. Having a biracial parent doesn’t make you yourself biracial or black. Example: Troian Bellisario’s “black” mother is actually HALF black. Troian’s not black. She of African ancestry, but she’s not black. This article is a fail.

Nicki

Trioan mother is all black. Not half black. SHe is light skin like many of us blacks are. Her mother Deborah pratt has said both parents are African American. Most likely they are light skin

Run

The writers never said that being part black made them purely black; they are just pointing out roots. By “black” they mean “part black”, with the assumption that many people didn’t even know that they had black parents or grandparents.

Mr Scout

Hell, I don’t know who most of these people are

thom_servo

I’m sorry, but if someone is 1/2 white and 1/2 black, why is it that we should consider them “black?” Should we completely disregard the white half? By calling these people “black,” you’re showing discrimination against their white identities, in the same way that if I chose to call them all “white,” I would be discriminating against their black identities.

Run

That’s a fair argument. So the billion-dollar question is, who gets to choose?

laurence green

sorry I just realised this is an American publication .I am English living in U.K here nobody except a few nut cases would care or notice

laurence green

the year is 2014 not 1814 , does it really matter

latxguy

wonder how many black celebs have white in heir backgrounds. probably all.

latxguy

if one considers the 12% law but many ar over 70% white here with the features that dominate in their phenotype

disqus_ExGoeRMqjJ

For the record “no nation-wide law against racially mixed marriages was ever enacted. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional. With this ruling, these laws were no longer in effect in the remaining 16 states that still had them” Also keep in mind, the “one drop” rule was a “rule” rules are not laws. Quit spreading ignorance and racism. Isn’t it enough that we have the most racist president in American history currently waiting to die in office?

Run

Is that a threat? I flagged your dumb a$$!

richardolsonhatesAmerica

Yes coonie, it was.

disqus_ExGoeRMqjJ

Wow, without a doubt the most racist statement I have heard in a year “with most people not even realizing these actors, actresses, and public personas are in fact mixed — and for all intents and purposes, black. Seeing as most of their “black” parents are themselves mixed, it would make more sense to refer to them as WHITE. Since deeming them white is to offensive to the author, they of course MUST be black. What a racist.

Troy Thorpe

Next they should run a piece on all the black celebrities that we didn’t know were white (had any caucasian ancestors).

Samantha

Thank God for people like brook lee in this thread…Honestly as a mixed person, I really don’t see why such a report and listing of “OMG celebs you didn’t know were black!!!” even exist. Like they’re really in hiding, trying to ‘pass’ as white. Has anyone thought that they just might not feel the need to smear their heritage in other people’s face because it’s their own business? How is that relevant? Why should we give a damn? Will some of you sleep better at night to know a white looking girl has black ancestry? Can we try and rise above ‘race’ or should we have people stick post-its on their foreheads to announce what their ancestry is like Jews wearing the yellow star under nazi Germany? I do not consider myself as black, nor white. Firstly I’m a human being, not a zoo phenomena, second I’m both, I cherish and celebrate my cultures and reject none of them. I’m tired of constantly being shoved in one ethnic box or the other, or having to be forced to “pick a side”. My ethnicity is no one’s damn business, people like me struggle enough with negative prejudices from both sides. I’m just very proud and lucky enough to have had parents who loved each other regardless of their color, cultural and religious differences. That’s all that really should matter in the end, but sadly a lot of you people make the world a horrible place.

Guest

Carol Channing’s father was Biracial, not black. His father was german (white) and his mother was black. So Carol Channing’s Grandmother was black, her father was Biracial and she is 1/4 black (her mother was white)

1ChrisSharpton2

Tune in next week for15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are Yellow

jeanie

I feel left out – English, Irish, Scottish, German & Cherokee – what does that make me? Do we get to choose which one we prefer and therefore the one we say we are? The only way, of course, is genetic testing — same for the African race — can’t know % without testing.

1ChrisSharpton2

>>I feel left out – English, Irish, Scottish, German & Cherokee – what does that make me?

Pretty mixed up

Tom V

Don’t forget that nObama has a WHITE Mother and a Kenyan father thereby making him Biracial but have no fear…he disowned his white roots as it didn’t fit his agenda.

jeanie

the photos I’ve seen of his Mother show her with obviously African hair – which leads me to think she was biracial – no bi deal — same as I posted above — without genetic testing, the O cannot know the %’s of his true heritage… But, I’m with you, and as I, also, posted above, do we get to choose the % we prefer to say we are!!

Tom V

Why not just be Americans?

Robert W

what I can not believe is that this is an article…and a focus of a discussion???really?

filmless

This is a racist “article”…. these people are not “black”, they are of a mixed racial background. They can identify with either or neither, saying they are automatically “black” is nothing more than a racist statement.

JasonD

Ok I’ll admit, I quit after #9…but none of these people are black; they are biracial. By that logic, couldn’t the article be titled “Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are White”. Also, wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t FORCE this as an issue? Can’t we all just get along…

jeanie

..funny, I stopped at 8 with the same reaction…reminding myself I was reading CNN garbage!!

war eagle

good lord. Why can’t white women find a good white man and stop confusing their kids with bi racialness. It appears taht the bi racials are id ing themselves as black. Wonder if it has to do with more and more black women, as the black men say, being difficult to live with? As for Obama, NO white person with a brain IQ above a watermelon would claim him as white as his parents were anti american marxist muslims hell bent on destroying this country. Mixing sounds like a good idea on paper, but in the end, it really does not work out as well.

jeanie

War Eagle, to add to your comment, this is what I see: Black women are full of hate, Black men are handsome and easily attract white women with their added cool and charisma + I’m going to stick my neck out here and add having a white mate would be a trophy! Biracial children feel their ‘difference’ and therefore inferior. Just my observations, sorry if you don’t agree.

Lee Mun Lim

racism is rampant on this site now the blacks say we need the one drop role even today? my god when will it change!

FredC1968

I was more surprised when Vin Diesel admitted to be an avid Dungeons and Dragons player.

J.R.M

Most of these people on the list are 1/4 “black” and 3/4 something else. .

Norm Farris

Of course the real WTF is the fact that this is such a big deal. It is for the last generation of Boomers, both black and white that are coming to terms with their race and that of others around them Gen Xers think this is no big deal. Hint: take the lead of a Gen Xer.

rainbows mom

Norm, all these adults pictured are the offspring of Boomers. This was not necessarily an issue for the last generation. These people are our children.

Kangeroo

This is just stupid. If you are MIXED, you are not BLACK, you are MIXED for Christ’s sake. That’s like saying that a mule is a horse, or a mule is a donkey! NO, its a MULE! A mule is half horse and half donkey, OK? On top of THAT, most of these MIXED folks are more WHITE than BLACK! Get you heads out of the 18th century for crap’s sake! These people are HUMANS first. Stop with the labeling. Geeeesh!

Art Brooks

“Black” is a totally artificial designation…as is “white”. As long as people can intermarry – and interbreed – there can be no such thing as “race”, other than as a way to evidence a totally false sense of superiority.

zaggs

Kinda depends on the actual racial breakdown. If one parent is 50% of something, and the other is 75% of something, you’re not really what the 50% parent is.

J’markus Lamar

soledad, rashida, troian, cash… yea pretty sure they’re black.

Barbara Schutz

I didn’t know any of these 15 were celebrities – except for Carol Channing.

Frank Rivera

Why does this web site continue to refer to mixed race people as black? The above article states: The people are for all intents and purposes, black Why? How white do you have to be to not be considered black? This is like the old Jim Crow laws that considered someone 1/8 black to be black. They could be whiter than white, with blonde hair and blue eyes and you would still say: that for all intents and purposes, they are black!

cvxxx

This is nothing but racism. It is an attempt to “out” a person’s ancestry and hope that others will be as racist. These are multi racial, bi racial people. Whose numbers are growing.

This seems to be a way for racial political posturing.

umkay

The term “black” I believe replaced “colored” and I think bi/mixed people would fall into that category….Therefore they fall into the black category. No?….Because honestly I’ve never seen a “black” person and everyone on here is acting like they definitely know exactly what it means to be black and therefore mixed people can’t be black but they are. Because “Black” always meant mixed people of African descent in America because of our history here in America. Doesn’t black mean any person of African descent? because it can’t mean pure anything. I don’t know why people are constantly trying to get others to shed their blackness and throw it aside….it never meant pure…and it doesn’t mean anything bad. Just because you acknowledge the black part of you doesn’t mean you deny the other. I think it’s silly that people actually think that people who call themselves black are saying they are pure black…in America??? That’s ridiculous.

JustNutzy

It’s called BI-RACIAL… EXACTLY like Barack Obama! Jeeze!

Jarv

WTF?? Isn’t this Racist??? Going way, way back. One percentmeans you are black?? Why isn’t this outrageous?????? Jeez. Perhaps thisexplains some of Africans distain for American Blacks…partially white??

What is the term (escapes me at the moment) for when twodifferent races combine…a bigger, smarter, Improved individual comes to life????????

antoni_harddork

This is what is called a true Bull sh ytt article!

fred

Wait, why are people who are half black automatically called “black”. We can just as accurately say they are “white”. Why don’t we call them what they are, “mixed”? For example, I can say Obama is white, but has he EVER been called white? EVERYONE reports him as a black man. He is just as white as he is black though….

richardstarr

How about we stop caring whether or not they are “black” and simplyjudge them on their character/talent? M’Kay?

nicholas

But they aren’t celebrities.

SaitIt

if you can pass for white, then you’re white.

Charles

Wow, there are a lot that I had no absolute idea of their true respective “races”. Not to be categorical, but if one looks above to these celebrities’ skulls/cranial features it does tend to shade to the imposing side. If you will, imposing cranial structures. It is really quite fascinating. I absolutely loved Wentworth Miller in Prison Break, love the name too. These folks have transcended the typical rational of traditional American Culture. While my comments aforementioned might been seen as rather conservative, in reality, the presentation of the article/slideshow spurns a significantly lucid classification if truth be told, wholly.

Justin_Igger

This is nothing new. Lacks have been desperately trying to pass for human beings for centuries.

AnonymouseIsAWoman

The miscegenation laws in most areas were looser before the Civil War than after. They became ridiculous in the early1900s as the so-called “eugenics movement” came into political favor. Eugenics fell out of favor after people saw what it lead to in Nazi Germany.

AnonymouseIsAWoman

OK. I admit it, I’m confused.I really don’t think that a lot of White people spend that much time worrying about what race other people are – but a lot of fear come from cultural differences. The reality is I think a lot of Asians and Whites are afraid of Black people. It isn’t hate; it is fear. I know people who won’t go into Oakland because they are afraid of being caught in a riot. I’ve had to drive out of my way when White friends panicked at the thought of driving through a Black neighborhood – even though the area was clearly middle class. In White and Asian culture, the black hoody is associated with thugs of all creeds and colors, so when they see a lot of young men wearing them they are terrified – but they are also afraid when they see young men of their own race wearing a black hoody pulled up tight around the face because that is the standard uniform for the guys who rob the 7-11 or the liquor store, whether they are Asian, White, Latino, or whatever.Colored hoodies worn loose around the face are OK – but the black help someone hide in the dark after the robbery hoody pulled up around the face like a mask inspires fear – and unfortunately for racial relations, the black hoody worn tight around the face seems to be a cultural style of dress with an entirely different meaning in the Black community.

jeff

You’re stupid…and racist. Many “black” people are genetically more white than black. In fact, in America we hardly have ANY native-born 100% “black” people…that makes nearly the entirety of African Americans bi-racial, not “black”. If someone is less than 1/4 black why does that make them “for all intents and purposes” black? Bi-racial or multi-racial would be more accurate, but the term that is 100% accurate is “people”. It’s idiots like you that keep racism alive by attaching labels to people- inaccurate labels at that.

catlu1732

I wanted to reply to a comment made, but there is no reply under his/her comment. But someone said to get rid of all the race baiters, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson etc and the first person to rely to that comment, asked about getting rid of all the white race baiters. What white race baiters? Name me ONE, even one that goes on TV and gets to spout off about the his or her hatred of blacks, and actually gets media attention, or they don’t get jumped on and called a racist because they had the nerve to speak out? There is none. But when your racist hero’s speak out, causing riots etc, they get away with it every time.

just sayin

looks like Dave Chapelle should have another racial draft

Sakja

The old Jim Crow laws used to refer to people as Black if they had a minute drop of Black blood; however, these mixed-raced people should be referred to as mixed race or bi-racial.

truthteller3479

I’m just curious as to when white people got to decide to tell black people what they could and couldn’t acknowledge (again). You know, since blacks didn’t create the ‘one drop rule’ or the idea that if you looked black, you were black. But like so many ills in this country, we adapted and even made the best of it. So now, you see people of color having success…and here comes many looking to take it away. Amazing how that works. Positive and successful = bi-racial. Negative and/or non-noteworthy = black. Can we just call it what it is. The reason there’s such a reaction is the idea that many white people engaged in this debate try to make black the lowest of the low on the totem pole. To equate it to the worst. So anything positive has to have its black stripped away from it, since you know, black is supposed to be negative.

cal444

This whole discussion is racist

LiveFree

How about you utopian progressives stop putting people into groups.

pissedoff

i find it incredible that on this site, if you have parents of two races, and one parent is black, that the child produced by such a couple is “for all intents and purposes, black”. so if one parent it white and one is black, the child is black. if one parent is asian and one parent is white, is the child born asian for all intents and purposes? if one parent is black and one parent is asian, is that child for all intents and purposes black? if one parent is indian and one parent is white, for all intents and purposes what color is the child? if one parent is native american and one parent is asian, for all intents and purposes what color is the child? if one parent is is asian and one parent is indian, for all intents and purposes what color is that child. your comment is racism at its best. obama was born of a white mother and a black father. he really isn’t black, he is mixed. because he has dark skin we say he’s black but truthfully he is not. every time i read this article i get angry.

in judaism, if a jewish woman marries a christian man, the child produced is jewish. if on the other hand, a christian woman marries a jewish man, the child is not jewish and must convert to judaism. if we apply that what a child’s religion is depends on the mother when a jew marries a person of a different religion, then lets apply the same to children of mixed race couples, what ever your mother is, that is what you are. therefore, anyone with a white mother, no matter who she marries, is white.

WhiteGirl

Let me get this straight; if you are African-American, you are black, but if you are from Africa, you may not be black, or do you mean to say that All people from the Continent of Africa are Black?

hub

If people believe what the Bible says that we all came from Adam and Eve, there would be no problem. Also, if they believe that there was a Great Flood and only 8 people were saved, they would know that ALL races came from those 8 people. Rejection of God and what He say is the main reason for all the misinformation, hypocrisy, hate-mongering and disdain for others of ANY race. Race doesn’t make the person. A person who was born doesn’t have any control over who birthed them. That’s a known fact. Can’t we just get along?

cvxxx

Please no fairy tales. The whole world was not flooded. Never happened.

hub

And you have proof that there never was a worldwide flood? That is in disagreement with true scientific knowledge. Quit reading Darwin and read something real for a change, unless you believe YOU came from an ape.

cvxxx

There was no such thing. You know it. The records are there. Darwin was right. And reading your love of myths makes the strive to truth more sweet.

Karen

Ah, the good old ‘mixed person’ identity crisis.

I think that how you categorize yourself largely has to do with how & where you grew up. Did you grow up in an area where there was a sharp cultural and socio-economic divide between different races? Did you grow up as the only mixed kid in the neighborhood? Did you grow up around lots of other mixed kids? Personally I grew up in San Francisco in the 80s in a middle class neighborhood that was 75% Asian. My father is white and my mother is black. There were 5 other mixed kids in my class. We were the ‘mixed kids’ – not black, not white, but mixed. I didn’t actually get that this was not the way the rest of the country thought until I was a teenager. You know, when you start taking the standardized tests and realize that there is no multiple choice option on the ‘choose your ethnicity’ question. I just checked both boxes anyway. I didn’t know what else to do. After all I was not black, not white, but mixed.

It really hit home when I went to Leland, Mississippi for a Habitat for Humanity build. I remember being asked if I was from the ‘islands’ – like Tahiti. When I told them I was mixed they didn’t understand the term. I had to literally spell it out that my mother is black and my father is white. Then there was this uncomfortable pause before they asked me which church I wanted to go to at lunch, the black church or the white church. Talk about culture shock… That experience made me realize why some mixed people identify as black and why some mixed people identify as white. If you grew up in a place where you were ‘supposed’ to choose, then you chose.

I wouldn’t say there is a right way or a wrong way. Hopefully we can move forward to a point where race doesn’t matter AT ALL – but that’s not going to happen in my lifetime. In the meantime, I’m just happy that there are more and more people popping out mixed babies. You are creating an entire industry for fabulous hair products that I could only dream of when I was young. 😉

Kyle Meta4ce

her name is rashida jones and she looks black.

TrifT

Ok where are the Black Celebs talked about in the title?? All of these seem to be bi-racial, not black.

Austin

Carol Channing and Troian Bellisario, for example, had a parent that was already mixed and the other was white, while they have African American heritage, we can’t consider them African Americans.

Austin

Huh? Deborah Pratt is half AA, half white. Troian Bellisario (her daughter) father is white. If she’s 75% white and 25% black how is she considered African American exactly?

Hidden

Yuck

Darlene Cunningham

@ Queenbee. The laws against race mixing are biblical. They have always been around. It is called adultery in the Old Testament and Fornication in the New Testament. Adulterate means to mix 2 things that don’t belong together. Mixed race people are called mamzers in Hebrew. The are commonly called bastards in the English translation of the Bible. By the way since Yahweh did not create mongrels, they are an abomination to Him.

Darlene Cunningham

Gabrielle Reece is not half black. Her father was white. Not all people in Trinidad are black. Most of the population is Eastern Indian.

Ye

while i do understand your sentiment. How do you know her father as white? I agree she should not be on the list if the specific ethnic make up of her father was not known.

Justsayin…….

Why is it so important for the accent to be on race? Is it because of our racist leader? Can we all just be people. There will continue to be people of one race (and that includes all races) who aren’t going to like those of another race. Let’s just ignore them and get on with life. It’s hard enough without the media trying to create more division like the potus and his wife do.

Sokoyah

Just got here, whew! The fact that these persons are identified along with thousands just like them is comical, but a few really are not a credit to either race since they have not dated, married or otherwise embraced their African Heritage. Rashida Jones looks black, so does the Rock (who would rather eat one than really be called black; his movies usually give him a black dad and a white mammy, have him grow his hair out and you will see the real him), Vin Diesel made his stand and if he could have gotten away with it we would just think he was a white guy but his strong African features gave him away. Carol Channing had a white mother and a nearly white father but back then 1 drop made a difference, she didn’t pass her father did. It’s cool that this is news worthy for some but the average black, well it takes one to know one!

SofaGuy

There really is no such thing as race. All of human’s descend from a common ancestor somewhere in Africa near Ethiopia. All European people descend from some common ancestor in the middle east as so on. Evolutions has created differences in people just like it has in dogs, so what? American “one drop” laws are racist as well as incorrect. For example if someone is half “black” and half “white” then they are mixed or hybrid, how can they simply be either “white” or “black”? Obama is 50/50 but he was raised by a “white” mother and “white” grandparents……does that make him more white? But then he married a “black” woman…..does that mean he is more black? In the end it doesn’t matter at all. Race isn’t that important any more. Yes, people discriminate, so what. Prove them wrong, don’t cry about it. People should be judged by there actions, accomplishments, and morality. Talking about race all the time only enforces racism on all sides. It divides people rather then bringing them together. In my opinion it is unimportant discussion, a distraction from what is more important. Who a person is morally is important, not what they are.

ellisd123

Um, none of the people on this list are “black”. All of the people on this list are biracial (or mixed race). Why, in 2013, are people still having difficulty grasping the mixed race concept?

notsoblackorwhite

The Post should be deeply ashamed of defining biracial individuals as black. What next? An article about celebrity Octoroons?

Barbara Lynn Glazeski

Maya Rudolph??? PLEASE! When she came onto the SNL cast, she played countless roles as an African American woman, and in the movie Away We Go, she is clearly playing an African American as well. Not that this should dictate anything but come on, she has been proudly proclaiming her heritage as far as I can remember.

Barbara Lynn Glazeski

Rashida Jones? Seriously? Anyone who is a fan of that actress will know her dad is Quincy Jones. She doesn’t hide that fact and speaks about it openly when she makes appearances…

Barbara Lynn Glazeski

I feel like this is kind of ridiculous… Carrying genetics from African descent doesn’t equate to anything. All these people saying that these celebrities are not “proud” of their heritage… WTF? Would you not find it offensive if someone that appears for all intents and purposes to be Caucasian claimed to suffer the same social discrimination as someone with darker toned skin? It’s just like how people get really PO’ed when people like Charlize Theron and Dave Matthew’s say that they are African American because they are from Africa and now live in America…

It is entirely possible that someone that has the skin tone that would typically be considered Caucasian, but has a Black parent, would feel it was disrespectful to call themselves Black just because their mother or father was Black. The term Black is one that identifies a person in their community, and holds serious social implications from a historical perspective.

It also reminds me of how so many US citizens have Native American ancestors… Just as many families in the US can trace to African family branches through genetics. Just because a person is related to someone through genetics that happens to be African American, African, Jamaican, or the many other nationalities encompassed by the word Black, doesn’t mean that they should feel compelled to therefore identify as such. There is no shame in just being yourself… It’s more a comment on the industry than the actor/celebrity if they are provided “benefits” for appearing more Caucasian. We shouldn’t shame people for being themselves.

I suppose this is generated from me by the listing of Wentworth Miller having roles that people “assume are White” I can just imagine the outrage that people would have had if he proclaimed himself a Black gay man when he first came onto the scene.

Shar

I am bi-racial but most people never ask they assume

Robbin

NONE of them are black. They’re bi- or multiracial. I am a black woman who’s partner is a white man. We have a 26-year-old daughter. I wouldn’t dare call her “black.” Why would or should she be forced to choose one over the other? So tired of the ignorance on this site.

Al Martin

dont forget Obama

Nate Awrich

Troian Bellisario is 1/4 black (her mother’s father is a white man of evidently mixed Native American ancestry.)

Maliene Brannon

The correct term is BI-RACIAL, not WHITE nor BLACK! If not Bi-Racial, why not WHITE, since they are as much WHITE as BLACK! Our beloved PRESIDENT OBAMA is not BLACK, but he is BI-RACIAL!

Ye

in a perfect world he would be biracial, but in this world he is considered black, especially since that is how people will perceive him upon meeting him.

Terry DeCarlo

Isn’t it distasteful to me writing and discussing this? What if it was the other way around? Well I guess it wuld oh whatever I’m tired hahahaha thank you and good night folks

Independent Texan

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

In other words, WHO CARES?

Tessie

First of all many of the folks, I never heard of. It’s evident that they don’t want the entire world to know or they would of told it. Rasheeda Jones, I guessed it, because no white person is going to name their child Rasheeda

Rædwald

‘Gabrielle Reece

The volleyball star’s father is Trinidadian. He was killed in a plane crash when Gabrielle was just five years old.’

Ugh, did the writer actually do any research before writing this? Her father was a white man living in Trinidad…

Why is it that no one bats an eyelid to some being British and black, or French and black, but the idea of someone being Trinidadian and somehow not black is impossible to comprehend?

What a goof.

DJ

Should have titled it 15 people you didn’t now were Celebrities….

Snidely Whiplash

Quit making the racist assumption that African Americans are all of the Negro race.

Snidely Whiplash

An African American father may be Caucasian. A geographical location has nothing to do with race. African Americans may be Hispanic, Caucasian, Negro ,or Oriental.

Tommy Udo

The race baiting headline stated ”you would be surprised which stars are black”, but in the article it says these stars are Bi-racial who tend to be on the white said. Anything to get attention I guess.

Ohana

This is a horrible site. SLOW SLOW SLOW. Not worth the trouble to wait for the thousands of adds to download. What a waste of time.

Nilo Downs

How come some people who bi racial go that far to look white (Gabrielle Reece) but say that they’re black? I don’t like that?

ARG! It’s not ironic if he played a black man passing for white if he IS a black man who is frequently mistaken for white! That is EXACTLY the OPPOSITE of ironic!!! Why must people constantly use the word ironic to mean the opposite of ironic? It was *appropriate* that he got his start as an actor playing a role that was similar to his own race.

Wiley Robinson

This article should be titled “15 Celebrities most people don’t know” instead.

Molli Mitchell

If you are mixed you are not black. Your half white

Bob

so what makes them black compared to white race i don’t understand. there are many races out there. the indians have a name it is called humanbeings cuts this racism down to nothing another goverment controled thing to keep us seperated

Eric Matterson

Some of the people are so swirly they would have to be fools not to know.

Eric Matterson

Carol Channing was probably laughing at Black jokes and using the n-word her whole life

Blov

Ok I think this is the most ignorant article ever. If people don’t know you’re black it’s because you aren’t. Maybe you have a “black”, “African-American” or “person of color” (or what ever politically correct term you prefer) parent but that doesn’t make you black. And I really don’t see why it matters to anyone anyway! People are people no matter the heritage. Isn’t that what being American is supposed to be all about? Articles like this only serve to preserve and propogate prejudices in our society.

onefuncapt

So apparently if you are half black and half anything else, you have to be considered black? President Obama is half black yet is constantly referred to as black. I would like to claim him as white…Where do you draw the line, and who really cares about labels anyway?

peoplerpeople

bi-racial is bi-racial. They are just as much white as they are black.

dell

What is Lation actor?

dell

they left out Tracee Ellis (Ross) Silberstein (daughter of a Jewish man and famous Diana Ross),, probably why Tracee is using Ross professionally.

Kerry Murphy

OH it used to say “for all intensive purposes!?” haha. that’s one of my favorite screw ups that I hear people make all the time. What a silly goof.

phillyGreen

Bi-racial women are hot. But they must be half white and half something else. I prefer half white half asian. Ohhh, so hot.

Mark Myers

This article is incredibly racist, making the assumption that “black” is the “dominant” “race” and therefore if anyone has any black in them they are “black”. It’s just as reprehensible for black people to “claim” a celebrity as “black” because they have some black heritage as it was in days past for white people to shun someone who had “a touch of tarbrush” in them. Moreover, declaring someone who is multiracial to be “black” is extremely disrespectful to that person’s other heritage, whether that be Anglo, Hispanic, or Samoan. Finally, “racial differences” in humans are of very little significance biologically speaking, “race” in humans is a social and cultural construct, so someone’s phenotype, their outward appearance, how they are seen by society is really what determines their “race”, not an ancestor, and while many of us have come to see phenotype and heritage to be socially unimportant, unfortunately it seems that “Madame Noire” is one of those racist entities that is still hung up on the antiquated idea of “race” as something important somehow.

Anon

“Trinidadian” isn’t a race…sheeesh. There are white, black and everything in between in Trinidad.

JimmieMee

Why in the world would you be secretly black? you could be forever above criticism and could never be fired from any job?….

The Volleyball God

Soledad O’Brien seems to hate on white people

Tiana

Fact error: Soledad O’Brien’s mother is Afro-Cuban, her father is Australian.

SanBrookgirl

None of these people are black, they are bi-racial. Why should they be considered black….what about the white side of the family. I am bi-racial and latina but in most latin countries we are called mulatos…. not white or black.

ForReal

I see a race war in the near future in which I’m fully prepared for.

ForReal

Channing lived her entire life passing as white. WOW! That sounds more like self-hate then just trying to get by. She aged well into an era in which times changed. She could have came out years ago and nobody would have gave a damn. Sad. smh.

marej

and you wanted us to know this because…………………………………………how’s that working for you?

Rebecca Freeman

Each of these attractive, talented individuals is a wonderful example of the fact that a combination of black and white produces the best of both races.

Tony

How are they all considered black when all of them are mixed race? Why are they claimed as black?

Sorry, I don’t get all a-twiiter over blacks.History has provided numerous warnings.

diana

madamenoire. Why are you posting inaccurate info about these people? I mean yes some are them are biracial but you are posting that some have african american parents which isn’t accurate. For example Wentworth miller father is not african american, he is actually jamaican mixed with other races and his mother is white which is why he has that look.

Same with eartha kitt’s daughter, eartha is actually half black., same with Troian Bellisario, her mother is actually half black, if you see her mother she looks very white so all of these people that you are posting are not biracial since most have different ethnic backgrounds and most are actually 1/4 black which is why they look mainly white like persia white’s daughter like 1/2 black druscilla aka victoria rowell’s daughter maya but no with halle who is also 1/2 black and her daughter is 1/4 black but looks more like black than white. also tia mowry from sister sister, her lil boy looks more like the dad so just saying there is a different way to categorize biracial people when we have children because I grew up where some people didn’t accept me being biracial because i didnt look like these people you have here on the list because society is making it seem that when your mix you gotta look like these people on your list when in reality i tell folks you don’t know if their black parent has some white in them like quincy jones, he has white in him too.

When people see me and my husband who is white walking down the street with our child who is 1/4 black 3/4 white. all they see is a black woman and a white man and are puzzled why the child looks so white, well duh i’m half black so it disturbs me when people say a black parent.

You are giving the misconception that a lot of biracial people look like this when in fact they don’t. I mean some do but most don’t. Look at shemar and boris for example. they are actually biracial and not 1/4 black which is why they look more black.

BTW you can also add famous singer carly simon to this list. she’s an octoroon which is 1/8 black, her daddy was an quadroon 1/4 black.

Clark

Typical coming from an African culture. You assume people with any African in them makes them automatically black. Pure ignorance and stupidity!

Feisty68

Why is any of this interesting? Maybe in the 60s you could have “shocked” people, but in 2013 it’s just shallow and mindless.

If these people are half black and half white or some other ethnicity, why are they considered black? Why is one half more important than the other? I never understand with President Obama that he is considered black. His white mother is fully 50% of his makeup. He is just as much white as he is black. So he (and all others of mixed racial heritage) is both. Not one or the other.

Rick W

Let one of them shoot a black kid *POOF* Insta-white!!

christine lauriac

99,99%of the people listed here have their “black” parent already mixed race.

Casisevillano

This man is NOT black… he is half black. Why lie?

sgfh

Yep. This list is grade A BS. I hope you didn’t get paid for it, or you share with me how one can get paid for being such a terrible writer.

lakawak

How does mixed become “for all intents and purposes” black?

Christopher

Martin Gore, co-singer/writer for Depeche Mode (still a big band, btw). His British mom revealed his real father was a black American GI.

318Scally

All of which goes to show that when we think of human “races” as something like human “species” (or “subspecies”) there are no races. Racists have done lots of historical damage by claiming a biological backing for race differences. Those who adopt something similar to champion the rights of black people simply reinforce that damage, however well-meaning. I have a mixed race daughter. Is she Black? Is she white? Well, she’s human. This isn’t a plea for some touchy-feely let’s all get along approach to race. It’s biology. No more significance in skin color differences than in eye color differences, from a genetic standpoint. If only we could really learn to accept that biological fact. The damage that has been done by claiming otherwise, and that continues to be done because of it.

Teri H

And why is this even relevent in this day and age? Who cares if someone’s parentage is white, black, mixed or pink-and-purple-polkadotted??

BillMillerTime

What do you mean by “black”? I am mostly of European ancestry but I have a small amount of Cherokee. Does that make me an Indian (feather, not dot)? No.

anonymous

carol channing’s paternal grandmother is black. her father is thereby half african-american. which makes her one quarter african american.

Anne Shahinian

Pathetic. This is nothing to be proud of. No one wants you in their neighborhood. You are nothing more than murderous, thieving savages.

Michael

Why are we labeling people that are mixed-race as black (or white, for that matter)? Haven’t we all evolved beyond all that mess?

Why are we still trying to identify people by “race”? Race is a myth and has been proven

Calpantera

I think the whole “these actors, actresses, and public personas are in fact mixed — and for all intents and purposes, black.” statement is kind of racist to begin with. So if they have any African blood line at all we should label them as black? How about we just call them people?

bruceben9

Author is a bigot?

escocesrojo

Strange that this list does not include dark-complexioned people who have European ancestors. The world may say they’re black, but classifying human beings is not so simple and never has been.

SheilaEnglebardt

I’ve never understood why we accept and call people black when they have a parent of each race. They could just as legitimately be called white. Why not just bi-racial???

mitchw

We really need to be past ‘race’ at this point. I am 50 years old, male, born and raised in the south and I still don’t understand why having one black parent makes you ‘black’ but having one white parent does not make you ‘white’.

kfestus

What the f*ck? I know “literally” now actually means “figuratively” in the dictionary, but you people need to stop abusing the language. “…for all intents and purposes…” these people are Black? Your article, these peoples’ careers and appearance are examples of exactly the opposite idea. Maybe in 1913, being mixed raced would make you Black, but that is not the case today. Being Black isn’t just about some genetic contribution from one of your parents. If any of these people actually IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES as being Black, you idiots could write another breaking news article with the headline “Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were White” and expose their hidden white genes. Of course, the real question is why do I read this crap? Obviously I giving you my clicks out of charity.

Pizza the Hut

How about calling this article 15 people who are mixed race.

K Gon Zales

Why does a biracial person have to be Black, are the white people too good for them?

Mercedes S.\

Attractive people – most of them I’ve never heard of though.

Lawrence Vaccarelli

what a joke !… being half white and half black does not make you black !…or white for that matter !….where was the dumbass who wrote this article educated ? …pure black people are a rarity…they are going the way of “blending/ melding”

SandMan00

Why does the author of this piece claim that for all intents and purposes, these people are black? For all intents and purposes, these people are white. Even if your parents consist of one white and one so-called black parent, usually the “black” parent is mixed race as well. And if by appearances you exhibit mostly Caucasian features and live your life mostly by white conventions – so much so that no one even considers the possibility that you may have some black ancestry. Wouldn’t that make you – for all intents and purposes – white?

Commentator

Ms Butler … really?? Your statement “for all intents and purposes, black” is not only ridiculous but also so wrong. These are people of mixed heritage. And they should be proud of that fact. Next you’re going to suggest Obama is black when, for all intents and purposes (and factually) he is 100% mixed. Not black. Not white. MIXED!!!

kate

if you have to tell someone your black then well ….your not… duh!!!

versalee

I don’t get the references to this and that person being “black.” To be accurate, those highlighted in this article are of mixed origins. I consider President 0bama to be “bi-racial” or “of mixed ethnicity,” as well. He is as much white as he is black … so, why is he constantly referred to as “black?”

Sabrinna

Because that’s what he wants to be called. All this time, and considering he has a big job, he forgets his lighter side. Too bad his white grandmother was so good to him, because he is kicking her in the teeth. He is bi-racial, and darker than many black-white unions.

DLew

It’s not a question of people not knowing. It’s people not caring. Most people don’t view others through a constant racial prism the media likes to use. People are drawn to others based upon their similarities and appeal, not their color or race.

The Cosby Show was hugely popular. Not because it was a show about a black family. But because it was about a hard working loving American family going through some goofy things many of us experience. Noticeably, the show declined once it began introducing race into the mix.

susanlynnanders

is this PC 🙂 hmmmmmmmmm

Sundara0000

Biracial is not black, it is not white…it is biracial. I am offended that this article states “for all intents and purposes are black”. Exactly why is that? Is it because you think that a single drop of black blood makes someone that race? What about the people with all kinds of mixed blood? I am American Indian, European, Scottish…which one should i claim to be? This article is racist.

Jason Smithfield

Um.. why is it called passing? We’re all equal, so what are they “trying” to “pass” as?

Why is it such a big deal? We’re all the same underneath skin color. This article is silly.

John Johnson

Maya is UGLY!

John Johnson

Rashida sounds like something you would name a monkey!

John Johnson

His mother was a animals w…. Disgusting. I’d commit suicide if my own mother slept with a Negro.

Mordecai James-Bradford

Actually Soledad O’Brien is the other way around. father is Australian.

an

her grandfather is native American, so her mother is mixed to start with.

terlet

Because they don’t go around screaming it and trying to divide the nation like a certain president.

stephenf

Why — for the love of God, WHY — does it matter?

Leave me alone. I’d rather know somebody from the content of their character than the color of their skin — or papers that show they have some percentage of “black,” or Hispanic, or Native American, or Pakistani, or Chinese, or Persian, or Inuit, or Laplander, or whatever.

Megan

I’m sorry but linage is traced through the mother’s line, so if your mother is white, so are you! On another note, these celebrities aren’t “black” or “white” if they are “mixed breeds”

Jon Weiss

Again another major “non story”, to me at least.

For outward appearance, I appear about as dark skinned as an pure Scandinavian from the far north (my job requires long pants most of the time so my legs get little sun, and they virtually glow in the dark), I am only missing the white/blond hair.

But as with those here, appearances can be deceiving.

Since I look like the typical ethnic German that the majority of my bloodline carries, I am also 1/4 Native American from the Pacific Northwest, Tillamook Tribe. But I missed out on the thick dark hair and the dark skin common to the “pure” members of the tribe.

pixie_n_dixie

Shall we merely say, “So what?” And what about persons who are part Asian, or Indian, or Swedish and part something else?

Fascinating that the “these folk are black” is something to play with under the old antimiscegination laws (for example, in antebellum New Orleans)? It is more interesting that there was (may still be) discrimination in some communities based on skin tones so that sororities avoided all but lighter-skinned women.

Maybe this is why Ancestry and 23 are making money doing DNA testing at $99 a shot?

Richard

No, for all ‘intents and purposes’ they are White AND Black… So what? They are still just as white as ever, no doubt raised in a ‘white’ culture (which is a very determining factor). If my great-grandfather was Black, that does not make me Black, it makes me mixed (and I am 1/4 American Indian anyway…..

BLOOE

Looks very interesting. Unfortunately on this computer, I have to endure an advertisement before each slide slow–ly loads. Some people are bi-racial. We are beginning to get over it, I think.

Jon Weiss

As a line from a movie set during WWII, states, from the Great George C. Scott…with great sarcasm, to the Gestapo agent.

“The world is mongrelized, Only in Berlin are things so pure.”

Jarrod

What is the purpose of this stupid racist article?

Shanie

Another very misleading story about race on this website…. Most of these celebrities with an African American mother or father isn’t simply half-white/half-black. It’s not that simple. In most cases, their African American parent is probably also mixed and has some white ancestry. It’s entirely possible that these celebrities have more white ancestry than black. It’s very common for African Americans to have at least some white ancestry whether they look it or not, and some people have more of it than others do.

Kranky

why is bi-racial ‘black’? Could it also be whatever the other parent is?

irksome51

It’s all BS. Not Race. Not Ethnicity. “Genetic Purity” is a misnomer. It’s all about culture, plain and simple.

Jon Weiss

Exactly! You are what you were raised to be and your “Pure Race” is largely dependent on your environment.

Fresca

My first thought is who cares? My next thought is these people are beautiful.

Mulotta Baloney

These people and our President are not black, they are mulatto. If being half-black makes you black, then what does being half-white make you?

romora_dubh

“…with most people not even realizing these actors, actresses and public personas are in fact mixed – and for all intents and purposes black”

I had to read this article among dozens others for this week’s reading in college, as an example of reverse bigotry in America. Seriously, “for all intents and purposes”?

But these people aren’t black… They’re mixed race. What is the point of this article, exactly? To claim ownership on anybody who has any bit of black in them?

I thought the US had gotten rid of their stupid one drop rule. My best friend’s parentage is fifty percent white and fifty percent black. She would call herself mixed race because to deny either side is to deny a part of herself. If you start looking at race like that then why don’t we just call the whole world black, since we all came from Africa anyway! It would certainly solve a lot of idiotic conflict and save us from stupid articles like this.

queenbee9

Arkansas law of 1911 says a white has to have LESS than 1/32 black blood to be considered white–law was NEVER repealed …What does the UNREPEALED “law” about race say in YOUR state?

Evander Hostmeyer

Did we not know, or just not care since we like their acting.

Issis

Why is a person with “mixed” blood “for all intents and purposes black”? Obviously the intent and purposes of these individuals was to identify with their white heritage, overtly at least. To insist that they deem themselves “black” is as racist as the earlier Jim Crowe laws that insisted that “even a drop of black blood” rendered someone “colored”. Give it a rest and let people express themselves as they wish, not as you deem politically correct.

queenbee9

Because based on the “white purity laws” which white people made up and codified into laws beginning in 1693 and continued to do so for YEARS anyone who had more than 12% of a minority blood has to be called by that minority and NOT white. so for all intents and purposes they are black because when whites want to conduct polls measuring themselves against blacks (which they do almost monthly, and have done so for centuries as if there are no other races) they can label any behavior they do not like or that is a negative stat as “black”. If you don’t like a law–change it–don’t just rearrange it in your mind. blacks have NEVER dictated the laws within the US–if you do not understand why biracials are termed “black” Look up the laws of miscegenation, the white purity laws and the “one drop laws” then find the part which said blacks invented and enforced those laws. This is not about political correctness it is about double standards, scapegoating and still institutionalized racism–(which n=only now, do whites want to change to again suit their own agenda (ie claiming their half white offspring or at least not relegating the same to the black race they relegated them to since 1693, and BY LAW must still relegate them to) The laws have not been repeakle–it is how race is still determined.

TJ

Who really cares if they are half white, black, or whatever. I don’t even know most of them!

Taejun

I love how everyonw is ignoring the “Al Sharpton” person that has to hide behind the internet to show his or her true colors. Don’t worry we see your comments. Don’t feel bad. Your ignorance has already been expressed.

m k

Nothing wrong with Maya R

m k

Deborah Pratt is not fully black. So Troiian B is white

Troian BellisarioTroian Bellisario

spankybanky

I did not know they were celebrities

nina

this people are not black…they are mixed. its sad, asian people as well as other races are VERY CLEAR about who they are..not black people..thats why we have an issue with beauty..we don’t have a basic standard bc its mixed into everything else and causes confusion….please this is ridiculous. how ironic their black, but they pass, or never reveal their status..but a true black person cannot pass, and no one will be confused about it. if this is the case, then anybody can be black…

queenbee9

Only blacks and Native people had laws passed on them by whites determining who could and could not be called or identified as white–the LAW says anyone with more than 12% black blood must be called black –blacks never made that up or made that into laws –these are still the LAW. Look it up.– Why are so many people ignorant of history and do not know the law– especially the laws concerning race since many are still in force?what the heck are you all learning in school these days?

Roar_Now

So many people on here are saying “mixed” equals “black” in America because of white racists and the “law of the land” in America. What a bunch of crap. I’m black and am fully aware that it’s articles like these and people like you all who are perpetuating the racial divide by always pointing it out! Leave it alone and guess what? It will change. Open your black racist eyes and see that it is our people hung up on this.

queenbee9

It does not change from being left alone, it changes from being EXPOSED. it is time we realize that many of us have recent black roots and maybe after a while whites will stop scapegoating blacks when they realize that the black apple is from the same tree as their apple and they all are from a black trunked tree.

J.Milliscone

So I’m biracial too and this is ridiculously offensive. We are neither black nor white. Cause if those people weren’t famous, you wouldn’t be clamoring to have them on Team Black

hawkeye22407

So, if you have one black parent and one white parent, you are black? How’s that work?

queenbee9

It was an arbitrary law–set into motion in 1693 then adopted by most states which “worked” because white women were enraged that too many biracial offspring and black African women were actually marrying white males and they were bequeathing land to their biracial offspring. To stop this–having sex with blacks was made illegal and no offspring was allowed to be claimed if either parent was black–to stop those already alive and of mixed race from progressing , the one drop laws came into effect and said anyone with more than 12% black blood in them could not legally refer to themselves as white or half white and must by law, be determined to be black.

When these laws were first enacted, even freed slaves or biracial people could be kidnapped and sold into slavery with no rights–to discourage this and preserve their freedom, those of mixed race tried to marry others of mixed race or pass as white in order to not be molested and to enjoy ownership of land, etc–how it works is how any law that does not make sense works–your question is like asking how can anyone be kidnapped and held by the US government in concentration camps (rendition and Gitmo) or how we can start illegal wars–we just can–it works that way because whites made this the law of the land because at the time the majority of biracial people had black mothers not white mothers. Now that whites are having the majority of biracial children, white women want their children to have their privileges–had this still been an issue of black women having the majority of biracial offspring , there is very little doubt that the debate about the race of the children would NEVER come up in white society.After all, Eartha Kitt and Etta James and many others had white fathers–no one ever tried to say they were biracial or mixed–they were deemed and treated as blacks–that was the law–guess what? it still IS the law–if it really is not right–Change the law….

Sally Smith

The human race originated in Africa – we’re all black, just like that white blonde lady in the first picture.

queenbee9

Some are more black than others.

Nancy

Soledad O’Brien’s mother is Black Cuban and father is Australian. The caption is wrong.

One of many

There are many different types of FLOWERS, different colors, but ALL are simply flowers. Same with Humanity. One race many colors. Yet there has always only been ONE race.

Panchopistolas

When ae we going to grow up in this county? There is ony one race, the human race. We come in all shapes, sizes and colors, but all of our parts are completly interchangeble. We have many cultures and languages and histories but we are only one race. Black is a color, which no one really is,and white is color which nobody is, neither are there yellow or red people. Until we get over this obsession with having to categorize people (and thus, evaluate, devaluate or undervaluate them) we will never ever truly reaize the american dream.

queenbee9

IRONY IS: whites codified what constituted a black person into law and since blacks followed and adhered to those laws–whites want to change the definition now only because it suits them, but still apply the laws that govern race–Do you know that the one drop laws are still in place?

Do most of you know that when ever there are negative stats about blacks they include biracials as blacks? Be they about disease, teen pregnancy, crime, drug use–when it is bad, all those with more than 12% black blood are labeled black BUT for instances of success, whites NOW want to claim certain blacks as biracial but not change the laws that describe such a mixture as black only (not allowed to self describe as white in any way)

Whites cannot have it all ways. If they wish to claim or redefine a racial mixture–they will need to dismantle the white purity laws in this country which have been in effect and the definitive arbiter of racial designation in America since the late 1600s.

Casey Swanson

Not sure what any of this matters.One of the leading white separatist just found out he’s 14% black.If you go back far enough we are all mixed up.

-The whole concept of race and whether one is black or white needs re-thinking. The US is one of the most diverse countries in the world and whether one is mostly “white” or mostly “black” should no longer matter even though it still seems to. If all these purity laws are still on the books, an effort to get them removed in all the states should be made. They are barbaric and unconstitutional. Maybe the next slideshow should be about all the “black” celebs who have “white” blood. There would probably not be enough room for all the slides. This is the 21st century and we need to get over the concept of race which leads to such negative problems for us. It is a shame that because of potentially horrible treatment for the sin of being born to someone of color, a person like Carol Channing would have to suppress the identity of one of her parents. We are making some progress as a country, but based on what still happens in the real world, we still have a long way to go.

queenbee9

I agree=–the laws are ignorant and most Americans do not even know that they are laws BUT consider this–one of the most successful side shows the government has is pitting races against each other–specifically the black and white race. Whites are continually compared to blacks in terms if economics, teen pregnancy, crime, health, etc as if no other race exists–most whites think most blacks are either on welfare or in jail and that most are ignorant. They are fed this by media and how blacks are portrayed–not many whites take the time to recognize the following:

1. there are less than 3 million TOTAL people of all races in jail, prison, reform school etc. Even if all were black, that would leave over 40 million blacks NOT in prison.

2. In 2008, there were less than 3 million people on welfare. Over 70% of those on welfare were white–but even if all of them had been black, that would still leave over 37 million Blacks neither on welfare or in prison.

No accounting for the obvious majority of blacks has been looked at by most people. Blacks are blamed wholesale for crimes that only a few commit and stats are used to portray the problem bigger than it is. what you don’t see are the numbers that statre how many white teens are on drugs or teen pregnancies or in prison–not % but actual numbers–you do not see numbers of how many whites are murderers or rapists or anything instead polls and stats are used to portray blacks off as worse and they DO appear worse because their numbers are so much smaller that they make up greater %. it is all in the wording. but what is the point?

This is simple–in a country full of inequities and corruption, the masses are given a bogey man or color to blame and to hate and to feel superior to–in doing so, those who are stealing, lying or killing can get away with more for longer by stoking that fear and hatred.

if whites were consistent, then they would fear blacks for being drug users of crack and fear all of their own race for being users of meth.

they would castigate black teens for getting pregnant and would not revere or make tv shows for white teens getting pregnant.

they would fearand point out black gang violence and fear young blacks thenpoint out mass murdering, serial killing and pedophilia and fear all whitesIF there was not a double standard….

If there was nota scapegoat, they would notice good and bad in all races but would notice the inequities based on social status and economics more…but they don’t.

Blacks claim biracial people because until the 1980s biracial people were universally perceived as denied mostly by and dumped on blacks by whites. they claimed them because they knew it was the law. /the “change” in perception has more to do with white whims to appropriate or associate with black idioms and ideas and less to do with acceptance of blacks by whites. The goal is still economic–to provide or extend privilege to half white children especially sought by white mothers and the white grandparents of biracial children.

When referring to biracial, most people think of a black and white offspring, when biracial means Asian and white or Asian and black or Asian and native American or any mixture of two races in an offspring. it is a diversion and to call it out is to show one again how hypocritical and silly it all is–but it does not change the law–it is like calling out closeted gays–by throwing a spot light on it, hopefully whites (who are the majority) will one day have a consensus on how silly and futile and hypocritical such laws are and will have them repealed.

Blacks make up less than 12% of this nation, they do not have and have never had the power to determine the laws or even the trajectory of their own perceptions, It does need rethinking and maybe after 3 or 4 more generations,there will be enough mixed as well as forward thinking blacks and whites to do away with the race designation once and for all.Right now, it is too useful a tool–to keep getting the races to hate or be angry or blame each other as long as they are busy hating each other, they cannot see who the real enemies of this country are.

Jacqueline R.

You got it backwards. Soledad O’Brien’s mother is Afro-Cuban and her father is Australian.

KevinFromNYC

Get your info right. Soledad’s mother is Afro-Cuban and father is Australian.

Guardian67

What possible difference does it make? I thought we got past this in the 60’s; I’m afraid bigots on the right and professional racelords on the left have kept this meaningless distinction alive for far too long. MLK stated “A man should be judged by his character and not the color of his skin.” This was true then; and, it’s even more true today. Why don’t we just go back to the purity laws of Nazi Germany? As long as people (as they do on both sides) make the distinction, it will continue to separate us.

queenbee9

You can say how ridiculous it all is–but this is the LAW and this is still being used. HOW do you think we get the stats on black and white health, crime, poverty, welfare, etc? it is based on who is determined to be black or white and people do not determine it by themselves–there are LAWS–anyone who is more than 12% of another race is not white but is that other race. THAT is the law–it has not changed since the 1693 and did not change in the 1960s because no one challenged it or drew attention to it–even now, the powers that be would like this to be a commentary dialogue which argues the point but leaves the purity laws in place–find out if they have been repealed–they HAVE NOT.

gabrielle

Alot of blk ppl cant trace their ancestry back to know the exact percentages of their mixtures unless ur stealthy as oprah and other celebs did through dna. If you clearly have one blk parent and one white parent or other race than u know u are biracial part blk and part white etc. Its not the same as an african american not knowing their lineage from down the line. If u know ur biracial yet u choose to never speak on it like the carol lady that didn’t reveal that her father was blk until she was 80 them obviously u didn’t want to be known as what u r. I allow ppl yo be called whatever they consider themselves. I would never deny to ppl if I had a blk parent and a white parent. For example Alicia keys her father is blk her mother is white she lets that be known and never hid it she’s proud of both of her heritage. My thing is u can’t be complete unless ur comfy with the dna flowing through you

queenbee9

Different times. Don’t act like you don’t know that if Carol Channing had revealed that her father was black you NEVER would have heard of her and she never would have been as famous because she would have been all back of the bus and ish.

Guest

“Pardon me. but I distinctly heard him say that he wanted two neeeegroes. Well sir, truth be known, my grandmother was Dutch.” — B. Bart

None of the folks are “black”, neither are they “white”. If anything, they are “Heinz 57’s”.

Abrecia H.

I have read Soledad O’Brien’s book. Her father is Australian and her Mother is Afro-Cuban (Hint: her European last name versus having a Cuban one). It is written backwards under her photo in this article.

bigdede

Aren’t these people Black and white? So how are they passing when they are white also?

queenbee9

Because the law says no one can say that they are white if they have more than 12% of another race’s blood in them, then anyone who looks white and tries to act and obtain the privileges of white are determined to be “passing” Whites made the laws that said anyone caught passing could be enslaved or imprisoned also in slavery times and even as late as the 1970s, if you were known to have a black grandparent or parent and was blonde and blue eyed, you still were considered black and called out–not by black people, white people would call you out and those who were found out were NOT allowed to associate with or join country clubs or call themselves white. so the term “passing” only applied to those who could get away with it and it was not only those with a white parent-light skinned blacks often married other light skinned blacks and even some dark skinned blacks had very pale offspring with blonde hair and light colored eyes–when at all possible, these offspring would “pass” as white and by doing so, have a better life and they even often, had their relatives come to work for them as servants and pretended to be whites over them–in this way they could help their own race, while sneaking and pretending they were :pure enough” to be white.

Tishauna Starr

frankly speaking people can call themselves what e er they want. people have a right to self identify which ever way they want. if they choose to pass that’s on them, if they wanna be labelled biracial that’s on them too, they can be damn near white (like me) and consider themselves black. i’m a black woman and that’s all i can be, i have no intentions on passing. i like being black. most of my extended family is black despite the fair skin complexion we have. i have seen what intra-racism can do. it tore my maternal side of the family apart, because they wanted to pass as either white or mulatto. my grandmother broke the cycle with my mother and aunts by raising them to understand that they’re black women no matter her complexion.

Jim

I don’t see how it matters at all which continent what percentage of your ancestors came from.

queenbee9

Read up on the laws of miscegenation and white purity laws it matters a lot–because it determines white privilege and white privilege still exists to this day.

conrad

if these people are black then they are also white. this is starting to get ridiculous now this isn’t the 1960s anymore we don’t have categorize people into black or white or whatever. my father is black and my mother is white and i am proud of BOTH my ethnicities. i am not just black or just white i am a combination of two (if not more) ethnic backgrounds and would like to be recognized as so.

Abstrakt Goldsmith

Carol Channing’s father was Mixed, so no, she is not black. Her father’s mother was Black.

me121

First, “black” is something borne of the American institution of slavery. F**k “black.” I define who I am, not the white man’s definition of me. Define who you are outside of the constraints of US ideologies and social constraints. Wake up!

lets me hole a lead puncil

Daniel Sunjata was described as portraying a Lation actor. what is a Lation actor?

Megan Anders

I’m going to have to agree with the droves of people complaining that this is a list of mixed-race celebrities, rather than secretly black. I guess I can understand the reasoning, but isn’t up to an individual to decide what part(s) of their heritage they connect with?

BACFA

This article is completely racist.

BACFA

racist

Sooooooo

I’m confused cuz the girl from “Suits”….her father was played by a black man and her mother was played by a white woman. So…..she’s playing what she is! LOL I could tell she was mixed.

pamelad

Actually it is Soledad’s mother who is Afro-Cuban and her father is Australian.

RicCrouch

The thought that comes to MY mind is… who CARES if they are black? Or part black? Or biracial? Or whatever you want to call it? I find it interesting that the same people who say we are supposed to IGNORE skin color make such a big deal out of it.

Get over it, people….

BillyJoeJimBob

I thought February was black appreciation month!

Lourdes

Jennifer Beals has always been VERY open abut her background.

dhantiger

What do you mean when you say they are “for all intents and purposes — black.” Is “black” a defined set of characteristics? If so, what makes on “black” aside from being of mixed descent?

nick stuart

What on earth do you mean “for all intents and purposes are black”? What kind of gibberish is that? Obviously the opposite is true–that is, they are in some technical sense of political correctness “black.”

Gam

SO SAD that everyone needs to be ‘pegged’ as white, black, biracial,etc. … WE ARE ALLGOD’S CHILDREN … I am ‘white’ but am ‘color blind’ and ‘ethnic blind’ when it comesto accepting ‘people of our human race’ …

GreatGrizly3

Hello, I’m an Earthling. 🙂

Joseph Emerson

who the hell isn’t biracial these days. sickening.

Joseph Emerson

big surprise about that prison break guy having a black father. you never hear about the father being white and the mother being black

news360

I get why for political, historic and social reasons, these actors are classified as Black, but they are actually bi-racial. If someone from India marries a white person, then no one calls that kid one or the other, but rather a mix of both. I find the ‘1 drop rule’ to be really racist. As if you’re polluted if you have any black ancestry. Time to stop that non-sense. You are as you look, or as you prefer to identify. No more, no less.

GreatGrizly3

Ironically, I never really noticed Obama’s “race” one way or the other. Never really mattered to me. While I didn’t vote for him (nor would I), color was never an issue. I just saw him as another man. As it should be.

queenbee9

Help repeal the laws they are still used and still on the books. They help to determine most polls and stats concerning the black and white race even now.

Mark O’Neill

Being discriminated against happens because of your skin color, not your racial background. SO if you do not have black skin, you’re not having the black experience.

queenbee9

It used to happen no matter what color you were if people knew you were not white. Whites used to openly discriminate against anyone and everyone who was not white and some still do. I have relatives who are very pale. My own sister was olive skinned and many in my family have green or blue eyes even though both parents are “black” and the white part is several generations back. My cousins and indeed my brother and sister look “mixed” but they are not. they are black BUT those who could Pass or could almost pass due to skin color but who were known to be black had it the WORST. blacks did not like them because they were “high yeller” or lily white and whites did not like them because they thought they were “uppity and trying to be white”They got mistreated by both sides–trust me, they had a black experience like you cannot imagine and on top of that, they were (the girls and boys) were sought out any time a white person wanted a little dalliance experience–they’s tell them that since it was obvious someone had been dipping in the mud that they should not mind if “they” (the white male) took another little poke at them.Some of them had true nightmare lives and this was in the deep south (Georgia) to be a black person who looked almost white or looked white back in the 1930s gave them a level of the “black experience” most blacks could not even imagine. They were exploited and challenged by both races at all times and on top of that, they were always perceived with suspicion.Finally, imagine when the skin was really light (looked white or like a tanned white) but the lips and nose and hair were straight up Kunta –They… went .. through.. hell… and yeah–they had the black experience.

VJ Chaotic

What is “black”?

Aren’t we done with this yet?

queenbee9

What a stupid question–particularly in light of how Obama is perceived and treated and the recent cases like Trayvon Martin. If you think we are “done” with this yet, take your head out and wipe it off–face it, racism is woven into the fabric of this country and pretending you do not see it anymore does not mean it is not still here and still prevalent.

EarlGrayHot

What a stupid article. What a stupid headline. These people aren’t black nor are they “biracial” which is a stupid, inaccurate term since their parents were from the same human race or they wouldn’t have had children.

Valentino

Bottom line Blacks will spot something that will tell them when a person is Black, however most whites can not tell!

Katie in NJ

Not necessarily true. My daughter had a mixed race friend in grammar school who the Black teacher thought was white until MLK day when she spoke about being the product of a Black dad and a White mom. The teacher had no idea.

MZupcak

Remember that we’re all human beings and we’re the most intelligent life on this planet. How stupid do we look to the more intelligent extraterrestrials that may very well be watching us and laughing at our petty infighting?

Fool_Killer

“How stupid do we look to the more intelligent extraterrestrials”

You mean the Greys??

me

Actually Soledad mother is Afro Cuban…….her father is Irish Australian.

Rodriguez

Black doesn’t refer to skin tone obviously because only Seal and Akon are actually black.

benji

Filthy Mudbloods…

Minnie

People who have a White parent and a Black parent are Mulatto, not Black and not White.

Sophia Wilson

This is Racist…They are not biracial looking or Black looking so they are famous biracial people..That’s how I feel.*I’m all the way Black!

Susan Kozloff

You forgot Kim Kardashian! Oh wait…..she only thinks she’s black

Keith B. Rosenberg

In 2010 the U.S. Census department did not have a definition for the various supposed “races”. So I put down “Human”. I put that on all of the 2 or 3 census forms that I got.

subjected

if I were afro-Cuban i’d ignore the contradictions.

subjected

if Obama had a son he might be white.

queenbee9

Not with Michelle as the momma..unless despite his actual “color” he self identified as white .. LOL

neville

This is nuts. Why is someone with partial-black heritage automatically considered to be “technically black”? Even with Mr. Obama, it is this way. He is never referred to as “half-white”, or “half-black”, but always “black”. Why is Vin Diesel not considered Samoan?

Using the logic that part-black means black, then we would also have to wonder if some of these 15 people mentioned might have a biracial parent who is then considered black. Or maybe that parent was actually considered black because of having a single biracial parent, so that the person listed in the article is in fact only 1/4 or 1/8 “black”?

Why do we need to label people at all?

queenbee9

Ask the government then ask them why the laws that say anyone who is more than 12% black must call themselves black is still on the books and has been since the 1600s.

neville

Interesting. Can you give the reference for one or more of those laws, so I can look them up in the state code books?

queenbee9

simply look up “laws of miscegenation ” or white purity laws or “one drop laws” then google those same laws being repealed because they were codified state by state and are under each states laws I am not able to give you a specific law code or reference but if you look up the repeal of the “one drop laws” you will find that they have not been repealed. You can also look up how race is determined in the US and if it was codified into law.

queenbee9

Here you go (taken from info about miscegenation:

”

One Drop Rule

aka: Act 320 of 1911

aka: House Bill 79 of 1911

In 1911, Arkansas passed Act 320 (House Bill 79), also known as the “one-drop rule.” This law had two goals: it made interracial “cohabitation” a felony, and it defined as “Negro” anyone “who has…any negro blood whatever,” thus relegating to second-class citizenship anyone accused of having any African ancestry. Although the law had features unique to Arkansas, it largely reflected nationwide trends.

Laws against interracial sex were not new. Virginia declared extramarital sex a crime during Oliver Cromwell’s era and increased the penalty for sex across the color line in 1662. In 1691, Virginia criminalized matrimony when celebrated by an interracial couple. Maryland did so the following year, and others followed. By 1776, twelve of the thirteen colonies that declared independence forbade intermarriage.

Though the intermarriage ban widened, extramarital interracial sex—at least between white men and black women—was tolerated. By 1910, twenty-nine of the forty-six states, including Arkansas, prosecuted intermarriage but not such instances of interracial sex. Public rhetoric justified such laws as preserving “racial purity.” Nevertheless, tolerance of white male/black female liaisons versus punishment of black male/white female relationships showed this to be a rationalization. Scholars suggest that marriage was punished because it implied social equality—an alliance between families that was not tolerated across the color line. Mere sex lacked such implication.

queenbee9

Arkansas Act 320 of 1911 and House Bill 79 of 1911, the law was never repealed–each state would have their own version and I do not know of any specifically repealed though people do claim the law is obsolete but obsolescence is an interpretation not a deliberate act , revocation or disavowment. Arkansas was one of many states with a version of this law.

queenbee9

Look up the one drop laws which are still the laws of the land–unless you think those laws are off the books now? Change the laws or live by them–blacks did not make the laws but all blacks regardless of % of white blood were forced to live by those laws and NO WHITE Questioned that until very recently….

Steve Connor

All I can contribute is this from the writings of the Baha’i Faith:

“O people of the world, ye are all the fruit of one tree and the leaves of one branch. Walk with perfect charity, concord, affection, and agreement.”

There is only ONE race . . . the Human Race! The rest is a figment of your imaginative creation.

Steve Connor

Interesting but I have just one thought that I share from the writings of the Baha’i Faith:

“O people of the world, ye are all the fruit of one tree and the leaves of one branch. Walk with perfect charity, concord, affection, and agreement.”

There is only ONE race . . . the HUMAN race. This “stuff” is the fiction of your imaginations and a creation of your own fabrication. Race has no scientific basis.

Khemraj Singh

So having one black parent automatically makes them black? Seriously? I don’t know if these individuals call themselves black or not but I personally don’t see them as black, they would be considered biracial to me. So take a look at my pic, you can see my kids and I, but their mom is white with, Irish/German/whateverelse European blood, are my kids white or Indian? SMH…

Rodger

At one time, the Irish were treated as the blacks were. If someone is half Irish, does that make them mixed blood also?

queenbee9

No. whites have on occasion labeled the Irish, Spanish and even Italians as being of mixed blood or black BUT ultimately they admitted (by the 1890s that such people were also Caucasian-the only obsession by race whites now have is with black people and the laws which determine who is considered black and how was first written by whites then codified into law by whites–these laws are still in effect, they state that anyone with more than 12% black blood cannot by law, call themselves white or even half white but will be , by law considered black. Curiously, no one has ever called for the repeal of the one drop laws or the white purity laws (as they are also known)

Amos

How about all the black actors and actresses who most people don’t know are white? That would be interesting as well.

queenbee9

There would not be very many. by law, a person has to have LESS than 12% black blood or another races blood to be considered white.

Jaye Brooks

Most of the people in this article being mixed race folks is not surprising to me at all. It has always been known that Rashida Jones is the daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton. Folks in their 20’s probably would not know who Peggy Lipton is; she used to star on a TV show called the Mod Squad. I loved that show! It’s well known that Maya Rudolph is the daughter of the great, late singer Minnie Ripperton. Minnie had the voice of an angel! Since the Movie “Flashdance” it has been well known that Jennifer Beals is a mixed chick. I was surprised by Cash Warren. And years ago I remember Ms. Channing saying she was half Black. I was extremely surprised at the time.

Mini_Cooper

Biracial people are not black.nor are they white or yellow or brown. The are BIRACIAL. Really stupid stupid article.

David Edwardzz

Tell that to everyone calling Barack Obama Black

Jaye Brooks

I don’t care if Wentworth Miller is alien! That young man is gorgeous. And, I knew he was a mixed brother, that has not been a secret.

smash44

Yeah, right. Guess that makes obama white then? I’ve only heard of three of them anyway, white, black, green, red, brown, who cares?

tigress

Obama is half white so technically, yes…

Miss Jai

Soledad O’Brien’s MOTHER is Afro-Cuban and her FATHER is Irish…

A J Sharp

I keep reading that Wentworth Miller’s father is black. But I worked for and with his father (whose name is also Wentworth Miller), and the man is white. Not even a question.

Joe Blowe

I am sure most of them were neglected & abused by the black half of their parent team so naturally they tend to ID with the side that actually cared & loved them,

queenbee9

LOL. Is that why Obama identified with the black part of his race? The fact is no matter how much whites love or care for their biracial child, other whites tended (especially back in the day) to make biracial or black children’s lives a living hell and THAT often determines how a child self identifies later (people tend not to want to identify with people who mistreat them) The self identification of Sade, Halle Barry, Obama, Eartha Kitt and others who faced white racial discrimination and mal treatment comes to mind.

Jake Culligan

Bi-racial is just that: bi-racial. The idea that if you have “one drop of black blood” in you that you are simply “black” is old, silly thinking. Sorry folks, but our president is half-white. In fact, he was raised by a white family and had very little connection to blacks for most of his youth.

EmpireDiva

Just because someone is half black or 1/4 black doesn’t make them “black.” I am black, my husband is white, and our kids are bi-racial. They are half black, half white. All this talk about “passing” is ridiculous. You are what you are. No one is obligated to reveal anything about their heritage. Why is it so important? Who cares if someone “looks” white or black? They are human, first and foremost. End of story.

This post opens up with “racial politics” and then proceeds to apply the one drop rule to judge who is black or not. Hilarious.

David Edwardzz

It makes you wonder what century we are living in

scandalhooked

correction’ Soledad O’Brien dad is Australian and her mom is afro cuban. Most of these celebrities its obvious their mixed if you are looking at complexion only maybe you can be fooled but if you look at some of their hair or features you see the African features quite prominently

DHBloom

Who cares?

ds9sisko

This has to be one of the WORST lists of this type ever created: half or more of these people are already well-known to be back or biracial (which should have been the headline) and the other half doesn’t even qualify as “celebrities,” unless the bar is so low that if you were an extra in a hot dog commercial, you too qualify as a “celebrity.”

unskinator

Americans like to still classifye people based on their race. It is time to get it over and done. Either you american or you are not. Race should not be a factor.

Don Sanders

Why do some consider anyone who is “bi-racial” as automatically being “Black”, even if their genetics present them as white, or whatever the other half is? Asinine sophistry, petty and absurd.

queenbee9

Because it is the LAW and those laws are still on the books and have not been repealed

thatsallihavetosay

If one parent is African-American and the other is Caucasian, you can’t really call them Black or White unless they identify themselves in one way or another.

dmhandy

Martin Gore from Depeche Mode found out recently his father is Afro-American man from Virginia! I would never gessed !

Yeldeo

this is the dumbest article I have seen. All these people and more I can discern in the public view are multi-ethnic. People need to know some geography and a bit about the diaspora to understand how “mixed” MOST people are.In the American experience this idea of bi racical = being black is just a another way of knocking down on the social construct we call RACE, (the one-drop rule makes any known saharan african lineage a so called Black).Even more unintellectual is the idea of saying a Trinidadian parent is an automatic black. The person may well be a black from trinidad, however as any other place trinidad has groups of blacks, whites, east Indians and native indians, etc. all dependent on how the region was colonized and which groups stayed in place etc.Several Italian regions have strong african imprints as do some welsh groups and so on and so on…

Marianne☮

I am from Trinidad and I know that just because Gabrielle Reece’s father was Trinidadian, doesn’t mean that he was black.

dubh

It is so funny that in the old days whites said if you have one drop of black blood, then you are all black. It was law. And blacks hated it. Today, it doesn’t matter if you are predominantly white or asian, with a minimal amount of black (Tiger Woods) — if you have a single drop of black blood, you are 100^ black.Odd, the laws we fought against are the rules we choose to live by today.

queenbee9

Maybe because those laws are still on the books–even odder is that whites never questioned their own laws about race nor have they EVER repealed the race laws and still use them to determine polls and stats about blacks and whites.

Steve Stone

Gabby Reece? Interesting,although I knew some fair skinned, had to be white, dudes from Trinidad

People are what they want to be in situations like this. Like Halle Berry and President obama consider themselves black; whereas people who are called “passive” want to be called White like J Edgar Hoover. People go by who they look like and fit more into. Sorry but that is the way it goes. SOrry but Carol Channing is not going to be considered the first black woman on the broadway stage (that went to Pearl Bailey).

Bob

When did the USA adopt the “One Drop” Rule of Apartheid in South Africa? I did not get the memo on that. I do not see how 12.5 %, 25% or even 50% Black automatically makes you Black. If you do not look Black, that means you are NOT Black! Duh!

queenbee9

1693 first adopted in VA. Actually the first laws were laws of miscegenation which were written due to a trend of white males going with and marrying and recognizing their biracial offspring by black females White women demanded this stop to preserve white purity, this was then followed in many other states and culminated into the one drop laws which determine what % of black one must NOT be in order to call themselves white. At issue was the preservation of white purity and economic superiority and to that end, white males could not have sex with black women and if they did, no offspring could be acknowledged as having white blood this later also extended to white females being prohibited also.

The one drop rule had to be put into effect to address the already considerable group of biracial and mixed race people they were denied their citizenships, land was taken from them and if they even remotely looked like they could have mixed blood (even if only 25%) they could be sold back into slavery and they were prohibited from marrying white people . Many ended up in brothels on the streets of New Orleans and other places as exotics to be exploited by white males (both male and females ended up like this) those who could “passed” often disassociating from their black relatives who also kept the secret in exchange for favors or in some cases having their freedom purchased or being employed by their passing relative.

Skin color does not automatically make a person black or not. I am the color of a Hershey chocolate bar I have a sister who is so pale many thought she was white, she also had “white girl hair we have the same mom and dad-she- was a throw back similar to my two daughters –one looks bi racial and one looks white with honey blonde hair, very, pale olive skin — both are black they just happened to get that from the gene pool now shall we call my offspring “white”just because they are very pale, have straight silky hair and white features? Their mom and dad are not white–how does this race thing work again?

Linda Peacher

There is no black and white. We are all multiracial. Quit trying to separate people by color. It’s not a good thing as we have seen from the last 5 years especially. Be who you want to be, not what your ancestry or “race” tell you to be. You should be judged by the content of your character, not the color of your skin.

Tom Ward

Agreed, Meg Butler is just race baiting

xve298@yahoo.com

This article sounds so political. Who cares anyway.

Jayson

Honestly, does it really matter? If mixed race is it so important to identify which races

ron

what most people don’t know is that Michael Jordans parents were both white.

WFreeman

And why is all this is important ?

Ron

what most people dont know that Michael Jordans mother and father are both white.

David Olson

Black is just a color. All ethnic groups can trace their heredity back to Africa. Saying someone is “Black” just because one of their parents looks “African” or “Black” is a racist stereotype.

queenbee9

So is saying that most blacks are poor or criminals o r promiscuous or are lazy but that does not prevent society from thinking of and portraying them in that way.

eclipse42

Where did the writer come up with the color convention? If one parent is white and one is black, how does that make them black or white?

Drew Loosely

There are no pure races; we’re all mixed. It is silly to say that someone who has parents of different races is therefore one race. They child is mixed, period. Besides, if you go back centuries, you’ll see that all of us have numerous races mixed into our DNA. And no one race is superior to any other. It’s not cooler to be black, by the way. Being truly “cool” has nothing to do with race, rather it has everything to do with character.

Osama Yo

out of 15, I have only heard of one (carol channing) so how famous can they actually be?

ODWms

“15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are Black”Funny how we still fall for this “if you’re part black, then you’re black” thinking in this day and age. I know of virtually no other race of people that uses 400 year old racist thinking to define who they are. Today, we push that agenda against ourselves more so than any other group.

Mr. Mutt

Wow!!! Are people THIS insecure about their own race that they have to find others – even if they are 1/100 of this or that people-group – to claim them as their own??? If folks really want to get past “racial issues” in this country then they need to remove the “color glasses” from their eyes and MOVE ON. And that goes across ALL people-groups. Although I, myself, might mentally note someone’s ethnicity and heritage, I try to see and treat them as individuals; NOT people-groups.

Celebrate a person’s ethnic uniqueness but don’t be so frivolous to pigeon-hole them into one particular people-group or another.

Signed,

A English/Irish/German/Scandinavian “mutt” whose married to a Slovenian/Slovak

queenbee9

I think the point is to challenge perception about what or who blacks are–this forces whites to rethink the idea of who they pigeonhole or stereotype and the term who is black is determined by the one drop or white purity laws which are still on the books and are still used to compile racial stats and polls– the one drop laws state that any person with more than 12% black blood must call themselves black and are NOT allowed to call themselves white–those laws have never been repealed and a Euro mutt in no way can compare to the centuries old persecution and denigrating of blacks based on skin color and what a few do or do not do. It really is not the same and most people know this.

Terry Smith

I’m proud that so many people don’t give a damn.

GA TallGal

Took me several minutes to view this article. This website is too busy — ads flip flopping all over the place. I won’t return.

Glenferry

Daniel Sunjata is Lation? Man, I could have sworn that he was Whiet.

therain

I thought we weren’t supposed to care about things like this, now that odumbo is our fake prez.

drightone

Should their color/race/ethnicity matter in the 21st Century? Just the fact that we’re still having this conversation about how mixed we all are with something from here and there shows how far we still have to go. To top it off scientists already call the names black and white misnomers as there is no such thing as a pure race anymore. We’re all mixed with something. Get over it and move on.

Waiting4

“It wasn’t until news correspondent Soledad O’Brien appeared on CNN’s‘Black in America’ that the world realized that she was black. Her father is Afro-Cuban and her mother is Australian.”

When did Australian become a ‘racial’ classification? Fact: There are black Australians!

queenbee9

They are not called black Australians they are called Aborigines and they are constantly being mistreated and targeted for racist maltreatment by the white Australians. When I went there, people were shocked that as a black American, I could afford to trave to their country and it was the Indians in Australia who first regaled me with stories about how racist Australians are. I never experienced it as a tourist, but I did see resentment and hatred targeting Aborigines by other Aussies and it was ugly.

Waiting4

While your response is or may be accurate my comment was simply that the term ‘Australian’ is a Nationality, not a racial classification. The behavior of the people on that continent was not my point.

Carl Avery

Call me an idealist, but I’d really like to see a society in which people didn’t define themselves, or others, by race.

As for people who are half-black, half-white, there used to be a word for that– “mulatto.” Why that term fell out of use, I don’t know, but maybe it’s time to revive it to describe people who are half-and-half. That makes a lot more sense than calling them “black” OR “white” when in fact they are both and neither.

And as someone farther up pointed out, since the human race originated in Africa, we’re ALL “African,” regardless of what particular skin tone we happen to be.

queenbee9

Then what would Americans do if they no longer had the black vs white polls about crime, poverty,education, pregnancies , health and everything else to constantly distract them?

CrazedLeper

If you can’t tell by looking, you’re not “black.”

Jim Porter

I can’t believe the snooty comments. “Geeting away with it”; “passing for white”. Are the Scottish Highlanders who have shed much blood to keep Britain free looked upon with sucn snootiness?

There is no such thing as African American, European American, or anything else, It is simply .. AMERICAN. If you were born here, you ARE an american, doesn’t matter where your parents or grandparents came from. If you came from Africa, then you are African until you become a US Citizen, afterwards you are simply an American. All you idiots (and I use that term lightly) keep crying about the words used to describe people with parents who are from different ethnic backgrounds, who really cares wtf they are called? They are HUMAN beings, we all essentially came from the same place. And this crap you keep bringing up about slaves?? Are you kidding me? How many 100s of yrs ago was that? And you wanna try and claim it like you was a part of it? If you wanna get technical about it, white people were slaves too, its just not talked about all that much cause it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the people today, I dont see white people running around crying about something that happened all those yrs ago. Racist? That’s a disgusting word and should be banished from the vocabulary. But if you wanna get technical about it, everybody is racist in 1 way or another. Nobody has the right to deny that and nobody has the right to cry about it. Quit being a part of the ignorant stereo typers, quit worrying about things that happened 100s of yrs ago, quit claiming it affected your life (knowing damn good and well if didn’t). Grow up, worry about today and tomorrow, Take care of yourself and your families. This would somewhat be a better place if people weren’t so ignorant.

queenbee9

I DO see white continually crying about things to do with race –I see this:

1. complaining about the race of a perp and then projecting onto the entire race when a crime involves a black but lamenting only about the crime when a crime (like mass shootings or serial killing )involve a white–whites never look at the majority of mass shootings, child predation and serial killings (which are overwhelmingly perpetrated by whites) and wonder if all whites are like that

2. whites are constantly bringing up and comparing themselves to blacks. Be it health or wealth or education or teen pregnancy or crime stats whites continually race bait and compare themselves to blacks as if there are no other races

3. Whites deplore bringing up slavery or any thing bad from the past yet from this same past don’t mind bringing up Abe LIncoln or past inventions or exploits–in other words they want a selective past where the bad is ignored or disowned and yet the laudable can be praised and taken credit for

4. Whites actually DO bring up slavery and still perpetuate things from that time period, whites also DO bring up inequities when they perceive them as against them but often are quiet if they have the advantage5.when the majority of teens getting pregnant were black they were a disgrace, amoral, and welfare queens and promiscuous and were denigrated, when the majority of teens getting pregnant were white, they got reality shows, prizes and were praised and paragons who cared about saving baby lives

In order for things to change, we would have to stop the comparison games, the polls, the stats, the “my team vs your team” mentality, we would also have to stop promoting institutional advantages for any group or individual based on skin color, ethnicity or religion (it is still done) and finally where was the dialogue in 1990? 1980s? 1970s? were there no biracial people? Of course there were–but back in those days, most whites were not adopting or being related to biracial people or claiming them–only when they wanted to extend their privileged status to acknowledged biracial offspring have they finally stated “biracial people are not necessarily black”until it was to their advantage , BY LAW anyone with more than 12% black blood was NOT ALLOWED to call themselves anything but black and those laws are STILL IN FORCE. Now why have whites not repealed those laws which they say do not matter? gotta wonder about that too.

Member of the Human Race

Why do we continue to label? Can’t we just call them 15 Celebrities? This only purpose of this article appears to be to inflame.

Michael Abracham

Mixed race would be a better term to use. Why does it seems as if a person who has one quarter or one eighth or one sixteenth African-American ancestry is labelled as “black”? One of my great-great grandparents was American Indian. Does that me one? And finally, it doesn’t matter!!!!!!

CLAUDIA AMADO

I don’t understand why people can,t just embrace their heritage, why would you want to be white when you are black, Hispanic or Asian, the world seems to be classified as either white or black, when in fact there is a beautiful diverse human race. No race is more superior than one or the other, learn to embrace your heritage and try to learn others as well. How boring this world would be if there was only black and white. And yes history can not be changed in regards to all the injustice committed in the past to slaves, mostly by the hands of White people, and not only blacks were slaves, Hispanic Latinos were also slaves, remember the history, The Spaniard’s? They came to America to “domesticate the brute”, such as Indigenous tribes. If you are blessed with two ethnicity’s why not embrace both and if you feel you are more one race than the other so be it, just don’t ridicule or under mind your other half. Remember that racism has always excited and most likely sadly always will and not just whites towards blacks, but blacks against whites, Latinos against blacks and vise versa. We should all learn to respect all nationalities and heritages and to admire one another’s customs, stop all the hating and bitterness from the past. I think Being Multiracial must be a beautiful experience. @ miss K, Alexis Morris @bobegrl @ madame noire, @ ohhema

PaleotechUSA

“Black”??? What crap. Why does one who happens to be of mixed races become “black”??? What crap.

scooby

This is silly all humans qualify as black, since all humans evolved from Ethiopia. In some ways we are not more advanced than animals. Imagine dogs seperating based on who has black dots or fur color.

Amber Marlow, theAmberShow

Being bi-racial is not “black for all intents and purposes”. It’s bi-racial.

Sam Brees

Meg Butler, your notes on Soledad are incorrect. Her mom is Afro-Cuban and dad is Australian

GollDee

For you fools who don’t understand that Black means multiracial as in Creole, Latino & or Hispanic, ask a African from Africa if they’re Black & you’ll realize how stupid you look. How do you think Black became Black in the first place? If you are Black you are a mix of usual African, Native American & European. If you are not mixed & your family is from Africa in you are a citizen of the USA then you are a African American. Know the difference.

xve298@yahoo.com

African – American is a political term dreamed up to influence voters. Africa is a continent. With many “races” who do not look alike not have the same skin color. Even more there are peoples of Oceania. The fear is with race politicians who see more and more strive for middle class life and want a better life for themselves.

JohnkinsBob

Are there any mixed race celebrities who consider themselves white? “…most people not even realizing these actors, actresses, and public personas are in fact mixed — and for all intents and purposes, black.” How can you make that assumption? Could they not, for all intents and purposes, be white? I, myself, am of biracial origin but consider myself white because I look white.

MajForesight

I doubt you look White.

Jason Matty

I’ve read some dumb articles and this one is really dumb. I’m mixed and I don’t consider myself black nor do I mark black on any form. Where do you get this rule/law from Meg Butler? Cause it sure is not fact. People like you I labeled racist (blacks and whites) and that is a fact.

VMA223Stone

The only one that really got me is Jennifer Beals. As to the title it’s stupid! Non of these folks are black they are HALF black!

Dude

Not only did I not know the guy in the first pic was half black, I never heard of him.

Most male Black celebs date only non-Black women or at least a very mixed woman. Why are there so few totally Black female celebs? And it seems like most Black people these days are ashamed of their African hair texture, so the men shave it off and the women straight on it. Why?

Do most Black people have an inferiority complex about their race? Is that why they strive to look like and mate with other races?

Michael Abracham

Generalize much? Please cite some articles or statistics for your “Most blacks…..” comments. The “Most blacks….” you refer to aren’t anything, except to some degree of African ancestry. And by your comments, you come as quite a racist, as well.

MajForesight

While there is no website that I see that has some huge list, it’s easy to see when you turn on your TV everyday, flip through magazines, and walk down the street. Black men want a woman with little or no Black ancestry. Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Kanye West, Seal, and countless others refuse to date women who have any hint of Black DNA. Why? I used to know a Chinese guy who only dated White women, he hated his own race.At my previous job, there was 3 non-White guys on my crew, but all of them only dated White women. Why? Their children dont look a thing like the mother, do they find their own daughters ugly because they are not White?

It’s just a simple question. Why do Black men have such an inferiority complex about their own race? Terry Crews, one of the largest and darkest Black men in Hollywood is married to one of the lightest skinned mixed women with dyed hair you ever saw.

Why do Black men hate Black women? Why do Black men desire non-mixed women over Black women? Do they realize they are giant hypocrites?

I also see that the number of interracial marriages is extremely high in the military. What do they do in the military to do that? I know people’s minds change when coming out of the US military, but it’s like they do things other than combat training to the recruits.

Please, don’t call me the R-word, I am simply stating obvious things. I see that most non-White men desire White, non-mixed women. From just turning on the TV its obvious that higher class Black men hate dating Black women. Why? Do they realize their hypocrisy? Just a question to the Black world reading this.

xve298@yahoo.com

There is no hypocrisy. They are making a choice. Just as any person has the right to choose. Socioeconomic status and class make differences in the people one would want around.

tigress

Perhaps they prefer to date someone of a different race for diversity. I’m a Hispanic woman that prefers not to go out with Hispanic guys because often they remind me of my own family (and who wants to date their own family?). I don’t have to worry about potential incest, and I like being exposed to other cultures other than my own. Just my two cents.

deus irae

lol, mixed raced people are not “black” by any definition. The concept of race is redundant in anything other than the american media anyway. It’s convenient to allow people to think we favour one side over another as it allows us to exploit both sets of idiots, but honestly, being asked to choose between being either “black” or “white” is like being asked to choose between being a beaten dog or the fool who beats it..

Auntie

For heavens sake let’s get past this black/white racial thing. We are all unique human beings so celebrate the talents these people bring to the world.

thedude1500

Me, I’m a white man whose soul is possessed by a 1920’s blues singer from the Mississippi Delta, who after the floods, moved to Chicago and went electric.

lilkunta

gabrielle reece’s father being trinidadian doesnt mean he is african. There are asian trinis, indian trinis, welsh trinis, german trinis, and more. TRINIDADIAN is a nationality not an ethnicity.

Curtis Martin

and many of these folks have parents who are mixed race making them 1/4 African American. This should be titled 15 one droppers or something equally hideous.

Curtis Martin

I’m white. My children’s mother is Black. My kids are both Black and White – the are BI-Racial. I see them as Ben and Jacob. Their friends see them as Ben and Jacob. I do wish more Bi-Racial celebrities would embrace both of their parents. Not to do so continues to send the message that they are the product of some illicit union. I will say that in almost every small group my kids have been involved in – church, little league, school – they have not been the only Bi-Racial kids. Bi-Racial and multi-racial children are absolutely commonplace and it’s about time they had some celebrities who are proud to be role models.

lilkunta

once the older generations die out I fell ppl WILL be seen as bi ethnic and multi ethnic. There are so many mixed of afrAm/anglo; indo & spanish; asian & afr …are these mixes to viewed as just ‘black’ ?

xve298@yahoo.com

Politics.

lilkunta

please fix the info in pic 9. soledad’s DAD IS AUSTRALIAN and her MOM IS AFRO-CUBAN. Hence Soledad’s anglo last name.

Mark

Could have been more accurately titled, “15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Period.”

TheMandatoryReporter

I’ve always heard that Juliet Prowse was black- I was hoping to confirm that here, but she wasn’t listed.

Aurealous

This piece should be renamed “15 celebrities most white people don’t know are black”. Of the stars you portrayed (that I am familiar with), not one was a surprise.

tom2trees

Who is the lady in the first picture? She is blonde, smiling, and wearing a white top and black skirt. Doesn’t she rate a name?

bobpomeroy

Why are these people being described as Black? Are we going Jim Crow again when a certain percentage of ancestry was definitive? Why does it matter?

bejing

Soldad O’brien’s Mother is Afro-Cuban and her Father is Australian.

Fuller

For all intents and purposes they are bi-racial. Why give power to one heritage over another? Absurd.

IVDAD

It doesn’t matter. If you are a good, caring person what difference does your race make?

Charles

Total fail, Madame Noire, unless you are just being coy with wordplay; meaning you are saying that EVERYONE is black because all of humanity began in Africa so therefore everyone is ‘part’ black.

snow white

Does it really matter ?

Passthebuckbarrack

It is usually better to look White. Black is usually seen as less desirable.

Being 1/2 black does not make you black, we have never had a black president, we do have a bi-racial president.

angel from your nightmare

Dang Jessica Szohr from Gossip Girl shoulda been on here. Maybe next time, lol

angel from your nightmare

Soledad O. Us actually flipped. Her mom is Afro Cuban.

Mango99

Well they could have shortened the title for that article to, “15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know.”

VMA223Stone

you don’t know the Rock and Vin Diesel? they are A-listers.

DrWho

Personally I am SO sick of these one sided articles. Even on seemingly innocent social website like this one can pick up major attitudes, for instance ….

Notice how these articles are always, you would have never guessed these WHITE LOOKING people are black ….. (shock factor)!

I would like to really see an article that shows us the exact opposite, IE these BLACK LOOKING white people are actually white.

AND THEN lets see what kind of financial and or social success these BLACK LOOKING white people have achieved ….

I am sure I will get flamed for this post but why is it SO interesting to make note of BLACK PEOPLE who LOOK WHITE, (in the opinion of the author of this article). Personally I don’t think they look WHITE they look like PEOPLE. Only a twisted mind would say this BLACK person looks WHITE and then post the article on the internet.

Why don’t we see monthly articles pointing out WHITE PEOPLE who look BLACK? And don’t tell me they do not exist … I would guess that such people might not have the most positive story to tell about the good ole USA. I am sure WHITE people what are mistaken for BLACK PEOPLE have more than likely experienced MORE than their share of OVERT RACISM in their lives, while BLACK PEOPLE who are presumed to be WHITE have consequently experienced much LESS that the average black person. Or course the flamers will come on here and just post I am a racist, but as the saying goes, Don’t judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes …

I am still waiting for that article that says these are WHITE PEOPLE who LOOK BLACK …..holding my breath ……

Passthebuckbarrack

No one would know who they are. You are right; it is better to look white and be 1/2 black than the other way around.

BOBOMO16325353

This should have simply been titled: 15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know

Kenneth Edward Polley

These people are not “Black by all intents and purposes” they are Mulattos! Or “Mutts”, they are neither black or white. It is sad that people of both races don’t care enough about their own race, to help keep it as pure as possible!

Passthebuckbarrack

Since blacks make up a much lower percentage of the population every 1/2 white/black person dilutes the black race further. In another 100 or so years black as a race will be non-existent.

KewlDawg

Madamenoire, being bi-racial is NOT exactly the same as being black. In other words, “black” and “biracial” are NOT interchangeable terms.

JoshBjerke

This.

randy

Pratt was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and is of white, African-American, and Native American descent

john

1 out of the 15 is attractive.. The rest are good looking enough to be on t.v.

Mimihaha

I don’t know who most of those people are.

Meow

Hmm, who cares?!? It doesn’t matter what race they are. They are people!

redav

From the article: “with most people not even realizing these actors, actresses, and public personas are in fact mixed — and for all intents and purposes, black.”____________________I find the phrase “for all intents and purposes, black” very odd. If you do not appear black, no one thinks you are black, no one treats you as black, and do not claim to be black (that’s what the first part of the quote suggests), then how are you “for all intents and purposes” black? Rather, given the conditions of the first part of the quote, it would seem that for *no* intent nor purpose are they “black.”

Passthebuckbarrack

Why would you want to be black if you could pass for white?

Th|rdeyeUS53

these people are strange looking, i’m glad i dont have one drop

Wotan2

It would have been great if you had included Rebecca Hall, whose mother is the great African American opera singer Maria Ewing.

David Gillam

I find it especially telling that in this age of our “post-racial president”, the media, Hollywood, bureaucrats and the Democratic party are more focused than ever on skin color. Why do you suppose that is? I would think everyone in this day would embrace the Idea best phrased by Dr King: that people should be judged by character instead of color.

Pat Hofmann

my two nephews are half and half and when they went to school and had to fill out paperwork they were forced to chose. my oldest nephew refused because he didn’t want to chose between his mother or father and was nearly not allowed to enter school because the count of black and white was part of how schools got money. the school told him it was best to fill in black so they could get a bigger percentage of minorities. look at applications and formal documents from the government, they make no allowance for mixed individuals of any mix. you are one way or another.

Bubba De

madame noire – claiming these folks are “black” – it would seem to me they are human – but your focus on their being black is a bit of a lie. Perhaps they are white, brown, tan, beige, dark brown, just people.The name you have chosen is “black” – but these folks are just varying shades of pink/brown.Love how you pretend to “fight” racism – then promote it (but that is what “madames” do) isn’t it?

R.S.

it’s 2013 – time to quit blaming whit*y for everything and get yer sh*t together. If it’s ALL about racism towards anyone who looks “non-white”, why do Asians come here and thrive? No racial profiling there, huh? BECAUSE THEY WORK HARDER THAN WHITES AND BLACKS AND HAVE STRONGER CULTURES! Its been 200 years now – GET YER SH*T TOGETHER!!!!!

erinwm

The Racial Integrity Act required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth and divided society into only two classifications: white and colored (essentially all other, which included numerous American Indians). It defined race by the “one-drop rule”, defining as “colored” persons with any African or Native American ancestry.

1924 pro-eugenics Virginia and Madame Noire are simpatico on this issue, apparently.

R.S.

if one parent is white, one black, you are a mix of both – not all “black” Get the F over the racial thing – who f’ing cares anymore?

bill williams

who cares??

LT

I for one am glad MLK did not live to see this day..your language and non constructI’ve thoughts and bias are still in the 1960s…he said he had a dream.. well guess what…you was not in it..smh at stupidity

Ted Lasky

Knew that they were black??? Hell, I didn’t know 1/2 of them were celebrities !!!

CarolinaKate

Rashida Jones looks just like her mom!

Christian Speegle

Do you know what I saw when I looked at those pictures? 15 human beings. When people stop pushing labels like “black” or “white” or “Asian,” racism will truly be dead. But THIS is what keeps it alive. They were 15 human beings with unexpected ethnicities. But they were all human beings.

Dolosus

Maya Rudolph was hit hard with the ugly stick.

Suspiciousvoter

I guess if Obama was a lighter in skin color being that his Mother is white and his father black he would not be labeled the first Black president. I am a Black woman married to a white man for 31 years we have a son I don’t see him as either he’s just a mixed race good looking kid who has loving parents. Obama has caused this country to constantly look at color. The only thing your skin color does is say what you look like not who you are.

NotYourTypicalReader

I cannot believe that having a little genetic code of any race makes you a member of that race. Mixed race does not equal black. I’m white – yet I have some mixed race blood in my family. It doesn’t make me “not-white”.Labels are being painted onto these people just to cause a stir. Or maybe a lot of people think these thespians are just pretty and maybe talented, regardless of their race.

Steven Leitner

Mariah Carey had bi-racial parents too, so she’s also black.

Panama

You have Soledad O’Brien mixed up. Her mother is afro-Cubano and her Dad is Irish by way of Australia. Both of her parents were strong Catholics and she never hid her racial identity, although she did encounter some bullying and predjudice. She has a lot of brothers and sisters, and they are all highly educated and successful. Mixed race people today aren’t really hiding anything lik back in the days of segrgation, but do think they get tired of explaining and just are content to be themselves.

dave

you mean like ‘Cosby Family black?’ lol

white guy

these people might have a person of coolr as a parent, but they are white now 🙂

Tim S.

Do you not understand how racist this article is? Do you not understand that you are PROPOGATING racism by this? YOU are treating people, not by the content of their character, but by the color of their skin. MLK would be ashamed of such writing.

Barbara

Nonsense. These people are not black. They are biracial or multiracial. If they self-describe as black, they are being disingenuous.

Darth Rant

Soledad O’Brien: Uh… what the fu*k is “Afro-Cuban”? How is she Black? And can all of you Blacks please stop using the term “Afro-American”? It is the stupidest, most pretentious label I’ve ever heard. First of all, you’re “Afro” nothing: I don’t see any huge hair. Oh, I’m sorry; it’s meant as a prefix derivative of “Africa”? Fu*k. Off. You all come from Africa as much as I come from Europe, except I don’t feel the need to call myself “Euro-American”. Idiots.Want to call yourselves something? How about, “American”?

Fred Crow

I get soweary of hearing about racism. There is very little racism these days. It hasnothing to do with the color of a mans skin. Its a cultural problem. Look atthe culture. If the culture says to kill others, its faulty. If the culturesays its more important to be or act cool than work and take care of yourfamily, its faulty. If the culture says to go wherever you have to go tosupport your family, its positive. Ethics, morality, and honesty dignify aparticular culture. It may be relfective in a race but thats not the criteria.Its your culture, the way you live, the way you were brought up, the way youact, the way you perform. I dont care what your color is, but if you act like anidiot, Im not favorable toward your culture, it is what it is.

thom_servo

That seems a bit odd. How do you define culture? If we take “American Culture” and apply it to your logic, then shouldn’t we all act the same way? If a white American and black American grow up neighbors in the same suburban area, but the white American turns into a drug dealing thug, while the black American gets a law degree and becomes a successful member of society, what should we hate if both are from the same “culture?” The problem is, people throw words like “culture” around too easily and never really stop to think what they actually mean.

NM

At the risk of sounding insensitive..but..so what? I’m under the impression from the article that I should have new/different thoughts about these celebrities, but I don’t. These revelations about their background doesn’t have slightest impact on my feelings about their work/professions etc. I really like some people on this list and there are a few I’m not that familiar with.

More confusing to me (I’m white…or so I think) are the comments below, where there are comments about who claims who, what mixed means, what biracial means….My apologies if this is naive, but do we need to label? I have friends and family who fit into many of these so called categories, but I’ve never thought of them as the ‘mixed’ friend, or the ‘biracial’ neighbor. I have friends who happen to be black, but I don’t have any black friends if that makes sense. I just have friends.

Jennifer Harris

The title of this article is extremely confusing to me.

sd0987

Racist article. The hatred for whites is astounding.

Nate

None of these people are black. It’s amazing how traditional Black Americans have a tendency to drag anyone they can tag into the black space.

Goaty McCheese

Excuse me, but EVERYBODY knows Jennifer Beals is biracial.

Olayinka Kazeem

Half Casts and triracials. Far from “Black”. Typical Americans with their one drop rule mentality.

ramon

and Dwayne Jonson is samoan

Honest Truth

He’s American from Hawaii, of both Samoan and African heritage and has said so himself.

ramon

Vin Diesel father is dominican

Honest Truth

Dominican is a nationality, not a race or even ethnicity. More than half of all Dominicans have African heritage, whether they admit or not.

Paula

Obviously these shameful people is ashamed of their black/ or colorful heritage and want to continue to pass for all white…. let them continue since they are ashamed of who they are …. wit there punk as….

Cassinus

Why are you people obsessing over this? You are going by the same “one drop” rule that was practiced in at the heights of the Jim Crow Era. Grow up and stop caring about color.

Rick

Celebrities? I never heard of any of them before.

Laura

These people are not black. They are not white. They are bi-racial.

jlfc

I disagree with the outdated premise that if you have any black ancestry you are black. If your parents are both black and white, than you are too. I also think the term “passing” used in the article is a throwback to a less tolerant time which should only be used if someone was trying to hide their parentage. One shouldn’t have to choose a “race”. We are all just different shades of brown anyway.

cfmurray

And your point is….??? What difference does it make what race their individuals are ? Why not just say they’re accomplished actors…period.

no race

OOh let’s label everyone shall we??

Unaware

why are they…for all intents and purposes….black? someone explain this to me in an intelligent argument

mary

Would have been nice to seen photos With the parents . . .Maybe next time .

James Orr

This is actually a list of Vin Diesel and The Rock and 13 celebrities most people don’t know are celebrities.

Bobegrl

I can’t believe how terrible this is. They are also WHITE. Equally. So why not refer to them as white.? Why just refer to them as black. One is on 1/4 black, 1/4 Cuban and 1/2 white. So why was he listed as black!!!! List them as malato, that equals it all

Al_Nevermind

“They are also WHITE”, but mostly black.

Robert Reid

So if you have one black parent and one white parent, that means you are black? Seems like mademenoire has made the call on this.

mary

Actually the long term legal standard was if you had 1 drop of black blood then you were black ( and used as reason for exclusion from clubs and other “white only” places ).

PedroFromMejico

Its really screwed up to label people as “black” because they have a drop of black blood in them. Race minded people from centuries ago may have thought this way, but why are modern day editors and media personell doing so?

mary

Some of the old rules have not been changed and until they are addressed the old rules & laws hold .

Sunni_Dee

These people all have the privilege of being “biracial” based on celebrity, fame and good works. Sadly, if these people had criminal records, their race would most definitely be listed as “back”

Dawn

Interesting Article but I would prefer it be titled “15 Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are BI-RACIAL!”

Dee

I wish you wouldn’t call bi-racial people black. It’s not fair on our other ethnicity(ies)!!

Al_Nevermind

“It’s not fair on our other ethnicity(ies)!!” What about us black folks?

Honesty

So these people are…mixed? Why call them black when they are biracial?

bupalos

We are all mixed. There are no “races” of human beings, there are different ethnic and regional concentrations of genetic variation, but 95% of individuals in modern America have a significant portion of genetic markers associated with 4 or more ethnicities. We are all all of us,

“White” and “Black” are pure social constructs whose content mutates in lock-step with the prevailing racist superstition of the day.

Chri$$$topher ™

Lol “we’re all mixed” Haha, that’s a myth and you know it. Black women are the biggest self haters I swear

Chri$$$topher ™

Race is more than just skin color and you know it. Compare the skulls and features https://www.youtubeDOTcom/watch?v=Mejg-BNcEMI We’re not the same. Race does exist whether you want to believe or not. Don’t buy into the liberal BS

Proud of my daughter, Mom.

If a person is of mixed race parenting, then for all intents and purposes, they are just that – mixed race – not passing, not black. Get out of the past. Bi-racial is beautiful and fully perfect.

Honest Truth

On paper certainly, but not in the present reality. Biracial is beautiful, humanity is beautiful period. But not being fully accepted is not just in the past it’s reality NOW.Non-whites are treated differently than whites in this country still- that’s reality now.If you don’t look fully white, you’re aren’t treated that way no matter what your birth certificate says- that’s daily reality NOW. And I know for a fact that as I type there are multiracial/biracial people going about their lives making sure not to be too obvious about their full heritage to fit into white mainstream America. They don’t always hide who they are, they just make sure not to ever show it either. Hispanics and Blacks especially do this too. A lot of them don’t even realize they do it because they’ve done it so long. That’s passing, it’s real, I’ve seen it my entire life, and it’s reality today. Right this moment.

CynicalAtheist

I don’t understand how this is relevant to the way I live my life, or anyone else’s for that matter. Seriously, I swear, the media HAS to keep the race thing going. If we just ignored the differences they would go away and everyone would live in harmony. Everyone is the same color on the inside. Let the racial divide die, will ya! Jeez Louise!

Gabriel Lautaro

correction, not black, of mixed heritage. To say someone is black because they have a small percent of black blood comes from a white supremacist point of view.

Al_Nevermind

“To say someone is black because they have a small percent of black blood comes from a white supremacist point of view.” It have nothing to do with racism, but it have more do with genetic.

letgoofmyears

If I’m not mistaken, here in the U.S. it’s a case of “the race of the father determines the race of the child”, so any child with a black father is considered black, and any child with a white/asian/hispanic father is considered white/asian/hispanic, etc. Again, I may be mistaken about that, but at least some of the people on this list have white fathers and would be considered white.

Honest Truth

You are VERY mistaken, that’s not the way it’s ever worked in this country. Not at all, ever. Nobody asks you what your daddy is when they see you to know how to treat you. That’s why being mixed or biracial doesn’t grant complete societal acceptance unless you actually look like you’re white. And once you expose your heritage it can wipe out that acceptance in a second with a lot more people than most Americans have a clue about.

angelpix23

Vin Diesel doesn’t know who his father is. He doesn’t know his ethnicity. His mother refuses to tell him.

lois

RETARDED article. These people are mixed and many are not even 1/2 black when you get right down to it. I will never understand how blacks can claim people with a caucausian phentotype. Does not make any sense and blacks that still follow the racist and hateful one drop rule are ignorant self hating.

Al_Nevermind

“Does not make any sense and blacks that still follow the racist and hateful one drop rule are ignorant self hating.” The reason their black because dark genes are the most dominate.

Chri$$$topher ™

Lol are you serious? Hahahahaahahahaahha

maryannparrish

Get it straight…..Soledad O’Brien’s mother is Afro-Cuban; her father is White.

Senator777

Where do you think Afro-Cubans come from….not Europe. Slaves populated all the Atlantic islands as the ships made their way to America. Until recent years it was illegal to play Afrocentric music in Cuba.

Meelah

Was Gabrielle’s father black or just Trinidadian because there are white Trinidadians.

DuBois

Gabrielle’s father was biracial, half-black and half-white.

MichaelFort

They sure don’t look black to me. Why would you refer to them as black?

best

these actors/actresses are not black, they are mixed. Im sure the reason they never say they are black is b/c they do not consider themselves so.

word

so I guess that saying someone from trinidad, means they are black?? when in fact the largest ethinic group in trindad are east indians…MN you shuddy journalism in showing

word

I feel like the world’s “ethnic dumpster”, when some distant relative or a drop of African blood makes you black, other races become ‘contaminated’ when some “black” got into the gene pool, then they join the black ‘race’….I don’t like that. The famous phrase..”black comes in all shades and sizes”….no we don don’t. e.g asians don’t come in all shapes and sizes because their ‘race’ has remained relatively and genetically untouched…personally I don’t consider these people black, maybe in the U.S they are but to the rest of us no.

lois

AMEN! !!!!!

Honest Truth

Actually Asians do come in all shades, shapes, and sizes including dark skinned and fair/blond/blue eyed. There is no such thing as race genetically speaking. There is not one single specific gene for skintone, but actually only 7 genes needed to determine melanin distribution. And if those 7 genes were used over and over in different people their would still be much variation in all their skin tones.

I completely agree that the one drop rule ridiculous, unrealistic, uncivilized, and demeaning to ones complete heritage. But in this society it’s reality, and still very much the practice. Most of the people featured look white and play whites in their work and obviously society. When most strangers have the nerve to ask “What are you?” like your a thing rather than a person, then you’re not really accepted. Who the hell asks white strangers in public “Where your people from?” No that doesn’t happen to most white Americans on the regular.

stace

My life experience has taught me that if you look like you might have a drop of Black in you, the world treats you as Black. I rarely hear Pres. Obama referred to as the first bi-racial president. He’s usually always called Black. My mother is Filipino and my dad is Black. I look more Black than I do Filipino and that is how I’m treated by the outside world. I grew up with a strong sense of both of my backgrounds but if I walk into a room of Filipinos, I’m looked at as a Black girl. It’s not until that I say that I am half Filipino that I am accepted as “one of them”. That doesn’t upset me but I think it does illustrate that how you look does, to some degree, dictate how you are treated by the outside world and that it shapes who you are and/or how you self identify. The extent to which it shapes someone obviously varies from person to person but I think you’d be a fool to ignore that how you look to the world is a factor. I doubt that the President knows what it’s like to be treated as a white man although he is. That’s because he doesn’t look like one.

Honest Truth

Exactly! And THANK YOU! People treat you by what you look like initially, not by your heritage. The only time I’ve ever heard a white person try to claim the president’s ‘whiteness’ is when they’re trying to defend their obvious bigoted hatred of him as not based on his race- when we’ve seen that it often is. Being mixed might have meant something back on the plantation when the daddy if white owned it, but those days are long over. I see a lot of African Americans dating outside of their race for many reasons, and most hold this very false idea that their kids won’t have to truly deal with being black in this world. Well let me tell you from experience if they are any kind of brown, and most black biracial are, then they have to face the same discrimination any black person in this country does along with all the hate and ignorant misconceptions that the black community has to offer along with it.

I don’t understand these people trying to go by percentages. A dark skinned person can be only a quarter black and they’ll be treated as any black person in this country. Nobody’s treated a quarter or half black in this country. That’s not how genetics or the reality of race relations in this color struck country works.

Cubanitaqt1

For Soledad O’Brien her mother is Afro – Cuban and her father is Australian, not the other way around. I notice you had it correct in previous post, but have wrong on this post. Please update. Thank you..

AustraliancAustralianAustralian

T.

Ok, most of the parents of these celebrities you guys mentioned are mixed themselves, which makes them 1/4 black. That’s like saying Halle Berry’s daughter is black. Also because Gabrielle Reece’s dad was from Trindad doesn’t mean he was black, there are whites and other races living in the Caribbean.

TriniDiva78

Why don’t you people learn to differentiate between a race, ethnicity and nationality when writing these articles?

kaykay

the blood line and ethnicity comes from the father blood line. if the father is black so his the child. if mother is black and father white , the child is considered white. that does not mean she cannot embrace both cultures but the child would be considered

Honest Truth

Not in the states, where you are treated by what you look like. If most of the people cited in the article didn’t let on about their heritage then they wouldn’t be considered black at all EVER. They’d go through life living and working as whites just like Carol Channing did. And by the way in most places and scientifically speaking the lineage of the mother is considered stronger and given preference no matter what the prevailing culture promotes. That’s why in genetic testing maternal line chromosomes are preferred in analyzing DNA.

Justbeenschooled

This is FALSE. Even in African tribes…the blood line is maternal…the womb you come from. Only until the Caucasian introduced patriarchy via the bible did the WOMB-man’s role in lineage get discarded…this was also done to make/give reason for the woman to take on the mans name in marriage. The womb you were created in and developed in is your bloodline. The child of a white female is white….the child of a black woman is black. Please just do the research. Knowledge doesn’t lie.

africangirlwithasharptounge

Genes are amazing man.

Guest

Another one you may not know…Martin Gore from Depeche Mode. His dad is a black man from Alabama.

Issa

Trinidad is a mixture of different races, so being vague and saying Reese’s father was Trinidadian does not mean he was black.

DuBois

No, Trinidadian doesn’t automatically mean black, but her father was half-black… Reece has confirmed this in interviews.

icarewhatithink

You guys have it mixed up on Soledad, her mom is Afro-Cuban and her dad is white. She speaks of it in her book, The Next Big Story

Chels’and Ailey

Vin Diesel’s stepfather is black. The ethnicity of his biological father has never been revealed.

miss darkness

How are you all black and half white? Wtf

chris

wow…it would seem that bi-racial is beautiful.

Justbeenschooled

why exactly….just curious…..

Minta

I am mixed myself. I am viewed by most as white. My Mother is African-American and Jewish, and my father is African-American and Native American and German. I am a not black nor white. I am my own person, and that’s what matters. 🙂 It is great that these celebs are proud of who they are-I personally don’t have a need to claim either way. If a person has to accept you by your race or nationality instead of who YOU are then they have a very big problem themselves….Be proud of YOU.

Honest Truth

That’s very nice for you, wonderful that you are proud and excepting of your complete self and heritage. But never forget it’s easier to not have to identify yourself as either when as you said you’re already perceived as white. You are accepted into the mainstream automatically without question.Please understand that this isn’t the reality of many people of color, even if mixed or biracial, living as such in Europe or post-colonial societies like the Americas. People don’t look at you and automatically assume the worst of your character while simultaneously underestimating your intelligence, talent, work ethic, and morality.

Have you ever been called the N-word or worse? Followed around a store by security without any cause regularly? Had teachers and employers try to dissuade you from aiming higher or for the best despite already being successful? Had men say to your face in polite terms they’d gladly use you like a wad of toilet paper to sleep with but your color makes you unfit to ever meet their mother? Introduce my darker mom to their family- unthinkable. Or worse things yet?Don’t get me wrong, I myself see race for the invented socio- economic construct that it is as well. I’ve never let it define me or allow myself to work towards anything other than positive healthy things. And I also refuse to choose one part of my heritage over the other. But I’ll never have the privilege of really choosing any such thing as race. Because genetics, luck of the draw, and society’s color complex does it for me everyday of my life.

L S Gordon

OOHH KAY??? Race and nationality are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS. Gabrielle Reece is not black. There are white Trinidadian people, ya know?

The Redman

This is how the haters and bigots will be done away with in the world.—Bi-one race.BLACK.the world will go back to which it came.

Paul

Wow, what a racist article. Would you please stop furthering the concept of the “one drop” rule?

If one is half white and half black, how do they suddenly become classified as black, and as said to have “Passed?” Passed what? Thousands of people in this country are bi-racial, and don’t even know it. They are what THEY say their are. Who cares?

Al_Nevermind

The whyte supremacists do

Guest

I agree that the article should be titled differently but why are people so upset about it? Mya and Soledad are the only two people on this list that I’ve seen express and are proud of their “african” heritage (as far as Meghan….I saw that episode of Suits, but I’m sure that was strictly for the story line, lol). The rest of them clearly want to keep it a secret. I’ve seen interviews were the Rock and Vin were asked about their “african” heritage and their body language changed….in an uncomfortable way.

willmecca

The Rock was part of the Nation of Domination when he first started pro-wrestling. With the Nation of Domination if you weren’t black you weren’t in. Hell I remember his dad wrestling back in the day.

DuBois

I’m sorry, but you’re wrong about The Rock… he has spoken of his black father in interviews many times, without reluctance or discomfort.

Honest Truth

In this USA there seems to be only three groups- white, black, and other. I’m an American with Caribbean-Hispanic origins of much African decent, yes people Latinos come EVERY shade, as we had slavery too. And I can personally attest that the one drop rule, while antiquated, is very much alive and well in USA today. Just look at how we treat most Asians and Hispanics/Latinos, they’re still not thought of as Americans even when they go back in this country before there were states. They are the others.

I myself am usually perceived as and treated as any other black person in this country and amongst my parents people- aka a second class American. Especially by anybody outside of the African diaspora. Until I break out the perfect Spanish which seems more shocking to some than exploding like piñata full of rainbows, mediocre French, or let something about how I was raised or eat slip nobody bothers to question my ‘blackness’. Only African Americans seem so hell bent on putting me into the mixed, biracial, or other box by constantly questioning my skin tone, or hair, looking for signs of something. What are you all looking for? Because apparently nappy can’t happen to light skinned folks too? Well, my annual cost for relaxers and conditioners alone say different. I’ve actually had arguments with AAs for not necessarily claiming a race, as I personally have never believed this race myth, but choosing to claim culture and ethnicity instead. I know exactly who I am, my family history worts and all, and how I am actually perceived in the world- believe me I’ve asked.

In my experience it’s mostly African-Americans in this country that seem so determined to make such distinctions concerning ‘blackness’. Which seems so ridiculous considering 80% of African Americans are not purely of African origins. Seriously, do folks assume mixed people get a special discount or something? That anybody bothers to ask if you have a white or Taino/Carib Indian parent, or grandparent, at home or lineage before they make their first assumptions about you ever? Do you think any cops bother to ask my brothers any of that before they get stopped while driving or walking anywhere without cause? I assure you nobody gives me extra brownie points or a leg up in life for being lighter or mixed other than American blacks- nobody. Because if anything I get plenty of shade if not flat out hate for simply being honest about my experiences and my genetic background. In fact, I’m quite sure somebody will have a ‘smart’ retort to this as well.

Maybe some of the featured celebrities reap the benefits of being white and talented, but it seemed it was mostly the ones light enough to pass. I also have a sister and relatives that can and do pass for white daily. I’ve seen the extra opportunities and acceptance she’s received all her life especially from blacks or all people. But that’s not the story of most light, mixed, or biracial kids in this country at all. Halle Berry and Barack Obama were still the black kids at school long before they were famous. It doesn’t matter much if your light skin came into your family genome recently or 150 years ago. I’m not claiming to be African, or even with my family history to qualify for African-American, but in this country I am black whether I like or not. Because in this world people make their initial assumptions on what they see first not what they realize later.

SIL

I knew about all of them, except for Troian Bellisario.

Tammy

Wrong Madame Noire!!!!! Soledad O’Brien’s father is white – hint her maiden name O’Brien!!!! He’s Australian and her mother is Cuban and African American mixed.

Larry Fein

I guess the question is simple: Why does it matter? If we’re living in a post-racial society, then why make a big deal of it?

IHateAlex

Meghan Markle never “hid” that she was half black. If you’ve ever watched Suits, the guy who played her dad was black so… that wasn’t a surprise to me

georgebush43

They are biracial, not Black.

Bits

what is Black?

Beffa

I can’t find it but this post (I’m almost certain the entire post) was stolen from another site. I remember seeing this list on a friend’s FB page and both of us going Carol Channing!!!! Do better Madame Noire!

Carolina

So does that mean you didn’t know that Carol Channing was biracial? I grew up in the `70’s and watched her on various comedy shows. I never knew that her race was a secret myself.

Beffa

It does…I had no idea…of course it doesn’t matter but it is an interesting tidbit about her.

Some guy

What I’d like to know is this…if they are half black and half white….how come you’re saying they are black? They are half white, so couldn’t they just as easily be called “white”?

SexNdaCity

Exactly!

DuBois

I’m not a one-drop-rule proponent, but just to answer your question seriously… no, most biracial people couldn’t be “just as easily called” white, given the fact that many biracial people look indistinguishable from numerous children of two black parents, while very, very few biracial people look indistinguishable from the children of two white parents.

If when Barack Obama had gone to college he had changed his name to Bill Osborne, and said that he was the child of two black people, most people would have accepted that without question… if he had said that his name was Bill O’Neill and that his biological parents were two white Irish people, people would have deemed him insane.

Carolina

Daniel Sunjata is a beautiful man. I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole, but a beautiful man.

Beffa

lol such an odd comment why won’t you touch him with a 10 foot pole?

Carolina

Let’s just say he has a reputation for having, shall we say, ecclectic taste in partners. I’m just not into the love em and leave em types. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate what I see. I could look at that all day long!

Bart

There’s 16 celebs I won’t be inviting over for dinner anymore!

Sheena B

That’s assuming they would accept the invite to begin with.

MissZindzi Marksman

Re: Gabrielle Reece-Someone PLEASE enlighten me as to when Trini became a race. You can be a White Trini, an Asian Trini, a Black Trini…I really don’t get why Madame Noire is so obsessed with guessing people’s race. Also, having one Black parent or grandparent does not make you Black.

Bits

you’re right but her father is described as an Afro-Trini in other sources.

you forgot Micheal Jackson. Today’s generation might not know he was born black judging from the pictures.

Chantal .N

Being a Trinidadian does not equal black. Many many races live on this island. I for one am not black. I have Indian ancestry. I think this article needs some better editing and a proper title.

Soul Touch

Most ‘ethnic looking’ people are black mixed with other things…this includes Latino. Most didn’t surprise, but there were a few shockers…I can normally note them, but some were clueless.

Patrick MacTavish

If you have even an ounce of black blood, you are considered black.

MissZindzi Marksman

By whom? The one-drop rule is antiquated, inaccurate, and stupid.

MeepMop

Exactly!!!

Valentine Joseph

THIS

EBet

Thing is, how it could be determined if a person has an ounce of black blood?

anon

What a stupid article. Most of these people are less than half black. Also, most of them have hair that is straightened and processed. The majority of them look like their black or mixed parent.

Kim Jones

This article is pointless. Other than Soledad the rest of these people do not claim to be black and have barely any interaction with the black community. Jennifer Beals has no interest in her black fathers heritage like most of them. Most black people are with other black partners, not sure why black blogs love swirly stories.

BillyBob Johnson

I think Maya Rudolph would take exception with your comments.

smittyt

Ain’t that the truth but all these website that promote this interracial garbage is run by self hating sleeping around with white men black women.

M. Adams

Translation please?

portugalwithblackgrandfather

totally agree with you kim, this blog is crazy and only people with low self confidence will agree with most of this rubbish, very messed up Americans.

Other1

Actually that statement about JB is not accurate, she’s been a lifelong friend of Denzel Washington and his family -and has worked tirelessly on Denzel’s pet projects (movies and charities) many geared directly toward black youth.

Trisha_B

#14…Trinidadian doesn’t equal black. There are other races on that island. Just like Jamaica, Barbados, etc.

I wouldn’t consider a majority of these people “black” they are bi/multi-racial. A better title would have been “celebrities most people don’t know are mixed race” or something like that. Most of their black parents aren’t fully black themselves. Most on the list are white with a mixed race lineage.

Bits

there are very few people who are “fully” black. All black people, with the exception of a few, are mixed to some extent.

Trisha_B

I’m not talking about your ancestors from the 1800’s & early 1900’s. Why do people count a .32% race? “oh i’m one-twelve native american.” uh no, You’re black, people always want to be mixed smh. I’m saying some of the parents of these celebs are like 25-50% black themselves, which means these celebs are barely black themselves

Bits

mixed is mixed. you can’t look at some people tell the percentage of blackness that runs through their veins…sorry.

SexNdaCity

Exactly! There’s a big difference between someone’s parent being a different race and someone whose great great great great etc…grandparent being a different race. So tired of folks bringing up the tired argument that “we’re all mixed”. They act like they don’t know the difference between immediate mixtures and mixtures that happened several generations ago.

EBet

most blacks in the US seem to be mixed, however most from Africa seem visibly darker, however maybe this could because of the hot sun there. Many Hispanics look darker when they come from tropical countries, then lighten up.

Kandi Preciado

Haitian, Jamaican, basian, etc are all of african decent. They were overtaken by europeans just as black americans.

Trisha_B

There are people on those Islands that are Indian, white, Hispanic, & Chinese. Not everyone there is black. Simply saying someone is from Trindad does not determine their race. Thats like saying “oh they are from Asia.” But not saying if they are Chinese, Korean, or Indian

TT

exactly, in haiti there are arabs….shoot im a mixed french/italian haitian and so is the current president of haiti…its just the images of the people you see in the caribbean are not always correct in addition unfortunately darker people from the Caribbean and Africa move to america because they are most likely to be poor in their home country…outside of the US its very rare to see a lighter skin black beggar…so of course that what you are going to see immigrate or in the feed the children commercial…colorism is very disgusting

Maggie

Oh please, Haiti probably has the LEAST mixed people out of all the islands in the Caribbean. And what is wrong with that? Does it promote some type of negativity if people don’t know that a predominately black country has this small percentage of non-blacks in it?

TT

Maybe of what you have seen….I’m Haitian both of my parents are mixed and their parents are mixed ….I grew up in a predominantly Haitian neighborhood and most of the Haitians I know are mixed with something from Italian to korean to Cuban…if you go to petonville, Haiti there’s mostly white people there….the school my mom and her brothers went to in Port a Prince had a mixture of white, Indian and black people, the current president of Haiti is mixed with Italian, baby doc’s ex wife if mixed with Italian…. the difference between Haiti and the other countries is as the first free black nation we take more pride in saying we are black the other countries were colonized and conditioned longer and nothing I said was negative it was fact , just because you haven’t seen something doesn’t make it not true…I know my history

kiki

Renee on top model’s current season is Trinidadian. Is she black? No she’s mixed. Btw its spelt “Bajan”

Maggie

It’s becoming more common for biracial people not to claim black. I wish black people would stop claiming as if their self-esteem depended on biracial people claiming us.

sasha

It’s not that serious, though. These people ARE part black. I don’t think it’s any more “pathetic” than Jewish people rushing to claim half-Jews like Scarlett Johannesson, Drake, or Lenny Kravitz. African-Americans have a purity-mania. As soon as you even mention another nationality or ethnicity (much less race), accusations fly that you’re insufficiently “claiming” black. Somehow I think these type of divisions ultimately redound to white dominance, and does not empower our community.

Just saying!!

Honestly, that’s not really the point. The point is that in America at least, those biological differences do not matter. Society recognizes you as black, hence you are black. We do not have the freedom we think we do in terms of choosing our own racial identity. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not realize that race is in fact socially constructed and not some purely biological concept.

Lois

Honestly that is not true about society seeing you as black. I am less than 1/4 black but when I tell some black people that, they automatically think I should say I am black when whites see me as white. The one drop rule seems to be more at play in the black community that among whites.

JAYE

Try telling that to the White people during slavery and the Jim Crow era. You are totally confused.

jlfc

It is not that time, though. Thankfully, that era is gone.

Other1

Is it?

queenbee9

But whites codified it into law and since blacks followed and adhered to those laws–whites want to change the definition now only because it suits them, but still apply the laws that govern race–dont’ you know that the one drop laws are still in place? don’t you know that when ever there are negative stats about blacks they include biracials as blacks? Be they about disease, teen pregnancy, crime, drug use–when it is bad, all those with more than 12% black blood are labeled black BUT for instances of success, whites NOW want to claim certain blacks as biracial but not change the laws that describe such a mixture as black only (not allowed to self describe as white in any way)

lewr2

There is only ONE race of humans. Humans…

rita

Doesn’t everyone know Vin Diesel and The Rock are black at this point? It’s not like they don’t look it. Plus, the Rock in particular is super open about it.

Meep

The title should be changed to “Celebrities Most People Don’t Know Are Bi-Racial”* They’re not all “just” black, let them celebrate both sides!

CynicalAtheist

Or why not just not differentiate in the first place. We’re all human. Live in peace.

rebman

Amen to that. Why on earth should it make any difference at all. We are all people and we are all ‘human”. Things seemed to be getting better and then Obama got elected and now here it is again. We seem to be splitting apart again. I can only guess what his agenda is for doing this to America.

Ohemaa

FYI Mixed race/biracial is not black. Let them celebrate both cultures and stop typecasting them into being forcefully black when its apparent that they are not.

Nia

Thank you. If you’re mixed, you’re mixed. Not black or white.

tracy

Nope you are both black and white, which is the TRUTH. I have several biracials in my family, you are both. So yes they are Black

Bonicushead

Help me understand Tracy. If you are biologically 1/2 white by virtue of only anglo blood on one side, and 1/2 black by virtue of absolutely no anglo mixed afro blood on the other side, you would be 50% white, 50% black. How does that become black? How does that become white? And why are both so unaccepting of being mixed. Why are light skinned blacks looked down on by dark skinned blacks, when the Human Genome Project showed that two dark skinned parents, verified by dna to be the actual parents, are capable of producing a light skinned child? No hospital switch, no cheating, but the child suffers ridicule for genetics they, nor their parents, had any control over. And white racist not accepting 1/2 black? What about the 1/2 white? Does needless, senseless hatred of one, overcome supposed love for the other? Both provided the viable genetic means to exist. Don’t both deserve recognition when but for the genetic contribution of the other, there would only be a mangled fetus? When mixed both only live because of each other…equally to form the one.

Adrienne Schwarz

Amen Bonicushead. The title of this article is ridiculous. It’s like Obama being heralded as the first “black” president. Well, last time I looked his mother was white as can be. I’m sure if she was alive she’d hate to see her side of his heritage totally pushed under the rug. So he is actually the first biracial President. He’s constantly described by the media as black to appease the masses. I wouldn’t care if he was green if he could do a good job.

Intellectually abusing idiots

Obama is black enough for racist whites and as far as the law is concerned, he is black. Is it scientific? No but celebrate the “law of the land” your kind proudly ways around when it’s convenient for them

Mulotta Baloney

At least 5 other presidents were known to be of mixed race, including Eisenhower who was part Native American.

Jazzy1691

That’s commendable that you feel this way, but history has taught us that this is not how it works in the real world. Blacks didn’t just come out and say because I have 1/2 white blood and 1/2 black blood that makes me black. Laws and society has dictated that if you have 1 drop of black blood in your veins you are black. The president understands this and that is why he is id’ed as black, I’m sure it bothers him he can’t acknowledge his white mother. This has been going on for centuries. And because you don’t feel that way doesn’t mean the masses do.

Mercedes

I feel like what tracy said is true my daughter is bi racial I am her mother I am a black woman her father is white/Italian my child is 4 yrs old and she is in preschool kids at her school have told my daughter that she is white and one day she asked me mommy what am I? I told my daughter that she is black and she is white I want my daughter to know origin and I told my daughter dont worry about what color you are you are you and tell your friends that next time.

Learn your history

I only read your first sentance. Let me clarify for you. It becomes black because we live in America. It is still mixed, but it is also black, theonly thing it is not is white. But that is because we live in a society that was built on the notion of racism and “purity.” If were in another country, we would simply be mixed or biracial. But we live here. I don’t know anyone person with a black parent and a white parent who doesn’t accept being “mixed?”

Bonicushead

Let me clarify for you, that you’ll clarify nothing for me, because you didn’t even have the courtesy to hear me out before calling me out, and have no idea what I was even talking about. And if your last sentence is a question and not a statement, and if I may guess the use of “we” means you’re mixed, then congratz. You have definitely confused me, and for this part, I’d be most appreciative if you would clarify this: If you’re mixed, and your final point is mixed are accepting of themselves, when you say “…but it is also black, theonly thing it is not is white”, you don’t mean that to “you” there is no white, you mean to “society” there is no white, because you favor the dominant gene, right? If so, that’s exactly what I said society needs to get over. Like it or not, we are the sum of our biological donor matter. That matter has a story as equally important as the dominant gene. It is responsible for you being alive. I’m white, that’s my pic. German/Irish and Cherokee. I’m also a substance abuse counselor after selling meth for 20yrs, did time, and play rhythm a melodic death/speed and thrash metal garage gig. I didn’t come outta Compton or the trailer, straight upper middle class from a family of cops. I’m all over the freak’n place but on paper, I’m less than trash. They’re picking their kids up from my side, to walk on your side. If I see value in what makes us…us, if I hate racist and race baiters, well…c’mon now.

blackbeauty

And, this people, is called going off on a tangent. Mixed with black, you’re black. That’s the beauty of being black, it encompasses and engulfs

Spm

Shouldn’t it be up to us as a society to change that perception. My daughters are biracial and have a vast and interesting heritage. I want them to be proud of their whole heritage and more importantly be apart of the ‘human’ race and not feel they have to choose only half of their heritage to appease what someone else thinks.

sagzki

If biracial people were in another country, you’d be considered as a citizen of that country without the need to racially identify yourself. I am part black part Filipino. Growing up in the Philippines, I never had the need to identify myself to one race. I was just any other Filipino until we moved to America.

1Guest

@Bonicushead, Let me explain it like this… Tiger Woods is technically a multi-racial man, who claims all of his identities with the word “cablanasian.” He is allowed to be racially ambiguous because of his success. But you see…if Tiger Woods was a nobody who was walking down the street, who hit an old white woman over the head and snatched her purse, what race would the public identify him as?? If Tiger Woods went to jail for the aforementioned crime, would he be in the statistics as “cablanasian,” or would they just throw him in with the 33% of black males who go to jail in their lifetimes? I hope the answer is as obvious to you as it should be. Tiger Woods is black because he would be so under circumstances that work for white America and it’s assumptions. So we expect that when he is the best golf player in the world, he will be referred to as black as well. Hope that helps.

Bonicushead

Well, anytime someone wants to explain something, it helps, I guess. But I’m quite clear on race relations in the US. And of course he’d be seen, as black. But he is not just what we see. Particularly since I was addressing the biological reality, more than cultural. Every culture has good and bad histories, with individual stories that result in us. If Tiger didn’t have the biological matter that makes his other half, he’d be an abortion. Along with that matter comes history. Everyone that has a problem with my post, doesn’t have a problem excluding half of why they’re even here, based on nothing but which gene was favored. Remember, it’s called “dominant” not “exclusive” because anomalies just happen. Judge Mathis talks about parts of East Side Detroit where light skinned blacks are attacked by dark skin blacks. When one of each is on those VH1 shows and Springer type shows, the light skin is the first “go to” for maximum insult. You can have biological twins, one dark, one light. And their life experiences will be different. I’m not black, that’s what they say, not me. We need to stop the Us vs them crap. I have equal contempt for the racist as the race baiter. I’ll give an example of race baiting against your “what you see is what you get” view. George Zimmerman. He has less Anglo blood than Obama, and exactly the same, no different than Obama, Zimmerman favors his dominant genes. Obama looks Black without knowing his background, Zimmerman looks Hispanic/Pilipino without knowing his. He learned English as a second language, his family had Quinceañeras, not sweet 16s. But race baiters threw your view in the trash and called him white for their race baiting purposes. Well, lets do the same, but for learning each other’s histories. Or is hate and ignorance too strong?

Pitter

As a person of mixed race (many, I grew up in a society of like multi racials. I think back to my friends at elementary school and wonder what were their predominant races and the only real clues would be their family names. The prejusices that prevailed were more social, typical for countries under the British Commonwealth.I live in the same town as Zimmerman and Martin and I think the racial issue was not Zimmermans race but the fact that Martin was singled out because of his race. I see this on a regular basis in Sanford where Black patrol cops are profiling Black people, not just teenagers but adults going about their “white collar” way to work.I think the more we try to identify and pigeon hole racial stereotypes the more racism we create. Blacks seem to think they should stay in their neighborhoods and speak ebonics as some way of preserving their culture. They need to get out of these ghettoes that the Whites with Jim Crow laws etc chased them into and integrate more into society. Maybe then we can stop looking for pigeon holes on our census forms.

Grace

All Blacks speak Ebonics including your parent? What other racist anti Black stereotypes do you adhere to? I’m truly glad you’re not Black, we do not need the mentally inferior.

Al Sharpton

Maybe you should be worrying about why it is so many of your proud blacks are hitting old women over the head?

America accepts Tiger Woods because he doesn’t hit old ladies over the head and steal their purses to buy drugs. That 33% you’re crying about? That’s your fucked-up culture at work. Fix them before you say another word about “racism.”

BlackUntil

Great points. In an university course this was covered how this supposed to be underaged baseball player, playing little league who was from the Dominican Republic became a sensation in the U.S. it was determined later that he was beyond the age of little league age. At the height of success he wasn’t a dark Dominican but was just embraced as a person and sports celebrity. Once he fell from grace he was maligned, identified as the dark, delinquent, criminal. He was blacklisted. His name escapes me. It is the same as persons such as Michael Jordan or other black celebrities. As long as they are bringing enormous profits and still famous and keep their nose clean, then they are loved and embraced. One slip and they become black again.

me

I’m about 25% Irish and proudly proclaim myself to be Irish all the time. People with African roots should be able to do the same. It’s not about skin color as much as it is about ancestry and identity..

BrownMongrel

“African roots” Berber, Arab, or black African (which contain hundreds of different cultures and even more fragmented ones in one region)?

See, people of African, especially black African (the only African that matters to me) descent aren’t homogeneous like your kind so you need to come correct when trying to lecture us about ancestry and identity.

FromCenterCourt

That makes no sense because “So yes they are White” would then be an equally true statement. You can’t be black and white any more than you can be big and small. They are neither.

thedude1500

“Some folks is even whiter than me,Some folks is even blacker than me.I got myself caught in the middle somewhere,And I don’t know where I’m supposed to be.

If u are bi-racial u are considered black ….and not many if any job applications will ask if u are bi-racial… so blame it on society, white people and white racist people … because u are considered black with any ounce of black blood… mixed is not a race or color and neither is bi-racial…. wake up people

DianeK

I’m Trinidadian -East Indian descent (not all Trinidadians are of African descent) and his dad is Caucasian with a mixture of American Indian, German, Irish – our baby is NOT black but is Multi-Racial. There is more than 2 races in this world – hence my child is multi-racial even though he has more dominant Caucasian features light olive skin, brown straight hair and blue gray eyes.

cheryl

well, sorry but in America, the lump anything that is not white, as black. Like Gabrielle the volleyball player. I bet you her black parent is either cocospiel, or some other mixture, but they still calling her black. So you better hide that son of yours, ethnicity. You know how you east Indians are crazy about color. After all your effort to find out you son is still considerded a n*#@er, must be hard.

DuBois

Gabrielle Reece’s father was biracial; Gabrielle is 25% black.

Khemraj Singh

WOW…You are a sorry excuse for a human being for a comment like that.

Audrey Mcdougle

Cheryl that was funny lmao. some get it and some don’t they need to go back to the history. The very first woman of the human race is a black woman, from whom all the races came from.

Al Sharpton

Some humans evolved. Yours didn’t.

FromCenterCourt

No, that’s old school, the “one drop rule”, they used to call it. So you wake up, get with the times.

Passthebuckbarrack

Just like obama.

Bits

Aren’t virtually all “black” people (particularly american black) mixed to some extent? None of us are of “pure” black blood.

Just saying!!

THANK YOU!!

Dasilva

Yes and at least 20-30 percent of the American “white” population has “black” blood. All of which really does not matter because the term “race” amongst anthropologist is a stupid separatist archaic term anyway it is really no longer used amongst most scientists. There are in fact different ethnic groups NOT RACES identifiable by DNA haplogroups.

Amongst European Americans there are completely different ethnic groups also. Yes what people call “white” is not white but represents differing ethnic groups. Germans are an ethnic group, English is an ethnic group etc. etc.

So in theory most European Americans are all multi-ethnic as are Europeans unless you are from a very small grouping of people completely isolated from the outside world…For example some tribes in Africa and South America.

smittyt

Yeah yeah yeah now that all sound nice and sweet but whites would beg to differ.In their twisted sick minds the world (white)carries a lot of power.

Valentine Joseph

You’ve been inside all whites’ head?

Ryan McGuire

OH B.S. then find an article some where claiming a group of poular actor/actresses or musician who are mixed race are white unless they have done something negative ” they are for all intents and puposes black” Holy double standards Blackman er I mean Batman

TheMsmother

Isn’t THAT the truth!!! Look at our president. Every white troll on the planet has called him a n—-r or a monkey.

jlfc

I have found that “whites” have less issues with this than some others do at least in my circles. Don’t assume!

sue

What a terribly racist thing to type. Generalize much??

Tim S.

Hoiw perfectly racist of you!

Maggie

Wow smittyt…what a racist thing to say.

FromCenterCourt

Ironic that you are calling names, bigot.

Margo Wilkins

There is no such thing as race. Race is a mythical, social construct that was developed by Europeans. Ethnicity is the correct term. There is no such thing as ” black blood or “white blood”. Ethnicity is determined by genes, not blood.

lewr2

and we all come from the same first set

Khemraj Singh

I’ve said the same thing but everyone tries to correct me by saying it’s race and not ethnicity regarding to different individuals. Only race I see, is the human race. Everyone comes from a different ethnic background.

lewr2

Freaking BINGO! The way the term is used today is new. A racist is someone who hates humans. Sorry, but there aren’t any.

Black, white, chinese, are all human race. We’re all decendents from the first man and woman as well. Good Lord wake up people.

lakawak

So I guess that would also apply to scholarships that are only given to black students too?

Phil J.

so then we can say that “white” or “black” is a term used to generalize it all

dracus

What I’ve heard said on a talk show years ago, is that the average white American has 5% traceable black genes and the average black American has 20% traceable white genes. And that based upon that, the average white American would have too much black blood to be considered white in Louisianna. But of course that is when people start claiming to be part Indian or part Italian.

Logic

Sorry, that doesn’t count. I know, blacks love to claim every other race like its something special. FACT you are mixed or biracial if one of your immediate parent is of another race. President Obama, Tiger Woods, Tia and TAmera mowry, Sade, Halle berry, etc All that my great grandmama was white is IRRELEVANT. Those mentioned above are considered black by society standard let alone when you try to claim something down the line either through slavery or something not worth claiming. Give it up, YOU ARE PURE BLACK especially when every race traces back to Africa. For the immediate biracial /multiracial folks, embrace who you are and don’t allow society to put you in a box.

Bits

INCORRECT! and you contradicted yourself by saying that there is a difference between being mixed/biracial and “pure” black and then saying that every race traces back to Africa insinuating that everyone is black. all of the people you mentioned would have been sitting in the back of the bus and drinking from the colored only water fountains just a few short decades ago. there are plenty of black people with the same skin tone or lighter than the ones you mentioned and they have/had two black parents (Beyonce, Vanessa Williams, Terrence Howard, Lena Horne, etc). you CANNOT measure a persons whiteness or blackness based on the color of their skin. Mixed is Mixed rather its a grandmother, a great grandfather or a mother of different race there are virtually NO pure blooded ‘black’ people. why is that so difficult for some people to come to terms with?

FoodForThought

Im pretty sure “Logic” never said s/he’s judging who’s biracial through skin color. However, Logic you are quite off when you say “pure black” since the average African-American is ” 72.95 percent sub-Saharan African, 22.83 percent European and 1.7 percent Native American” according to DNA(dot)com. But that alone is not enough to constitute someone as “mixed” or “biracial.” You can’t be rollin’ town around sayin’ “I’m mixed” if your great-great-grandmother was French. It’s already a given that no race is “pure” and therefore is irrelevant.

Like Logic mentioned, you are “if one of your immediate parent is of another race.” Why can’t bi-racial children acknowledge both facets, black AND white, without being boxed into one category (black)? It’s America’s stupid one-drop-rule ignorance that forces bi-racial children to consider themselves just “black”

If someone has a Chinese mom and Irish dad, I don’t see anyone forcing them to just be White or just be Asian. He or she will say “I am both Asian and White.” Why can’t a boy, who is Swedish and Ghanaian for example, say “I am bi-racial; both black and white”? Must he just say “I am Black”?

Logic

I understand, when using the word ‘Black’ it should be specific. As far as I know, there are PURE AFRICANS, and a lighter skin African doesn’t indicate being mixed or having white ancestry. Yeah, everyone has been mixed one way or the other according to the white man’s history. Whites love to say PURE WHITES but like to push no PURE BLACK. Anyway, due to slavery where truth has been manipulated with, it’s hard to say for black Americans. But there are pure Africans, through colonization many Africans still kept their identity and cultures.

Name

correct whites especially those skin head teaparty gop one drop of black blood southern ones look to skin appearances for certification of pure whitness.how shortsighted . if 90% of American blacks are already very heavily “mixed” then it only follows that at a minimum70% of white americans are also “mixed” that WILL include black mixture also what do those whites think all those “pass as white people” blacks were doing ? sittin on their hands ? NO they wereendlessly becoming white peoples great great grand dads and grandmas with the hungry help blessing and participation of all those white guys who only go by skin color appearances..I dare anyone to check the DNA of ALL americans..whites would be the only ones shocked out of their gords

Bits

I didn’t even take the time to read this book of a comment.

Farrah

I hear what you’re saying and for the most part, I agree. However, I think the elephant in the room is the fact that most people try to identify them with what society sees them as. I’m not saying that’s right, but for society as a whole, it’s easier to be seen as White. And it’s easier to be almost any other race besides Black.

stef

Precisely. Perhaps there are those who just ‘classify’ themselves as PEOPLE. HUMANS. Maybe they choose not to play the ridiculous games. Good for them. Then, there are those who embrace only that which is apparent to the eye, even though they don’t want to be judged by those very same parameters. When people like Berry, Keys, etc, call themselves ‘black’, they are in essence, disregarding their European-American heritage; in their cases, the very parent who stuck around to raise them.EMBRACE ALL THAT YOU ARE.

lilkunta

stef: halle isnt disregarding her anglo mother Judith. Growing up Judith told halle ‘ you are a black girl and will be a black woman”. I dont know abo cheater alicia . And I dont like you comment that ” their euro-am heritage the very parent who stuck arounf to raise them”. Many times the Afram fathers wereran off by the Anglo girls parents or by the community. Mariah carey is an exampe of this: her AfrVenezuela Engineer Dad Alfred was ran off(after their house window had a brick thrown thru it and the family cat was killed) so he moved to DC with Mariah’s older brother Morgan and sister Allison while Mariah stayed in NY with their Mom Patricia) .

queenbee9

We can’t say “embrace all that you are” then ridicule blacks who choose to acknowledge long ago European or Native American connections. We cannot say a person who identifies as white or black has an obligation to emulate or embrace the race of the person who raised them. People need to embrace their humanity and leave the “Team Black” Team white or whatever nonsense to those still ignorant enough and insecure enough to hide behind racism. When a person truly embraces who they are-they embrace their humanity, instincts and intellect not skin color.

Logic

Go read my comment again and also the meaning of contradiction before you use it. Geez, black always so passionate and happy to say how mixed they are. How many non black goes around saying how they are proud to be mixed with black, when they probably are. Inferiority complex at its best. How is the skin color debate helping, because what society see is ‘BLACK’. I didn’t mention who’s more black judging by skin color. I simply said, biracial means two races, who freaking cares if beyonce’s if skin tone is whiter than Halle berry. One is black and the other is biracial. So, whites won their case by actually convincing every black person is mixed with white no pure black but there’s pure white. Is either you are very young or simply ignorant. Yes, every race is traced back to Africa, doesn’t mean they are black just means human beings started from there.

Bits

I’m not wasting my time to read anything again. I proved my point now I’m moving on…how about those Cowboys?!

Lady Bug

ALL BLACK ….check the “Genome Project”…look it up…watch it… THEN get mad..lol…and guess what..THERE’s NOTHING that can be done about it!!! :)))))

Name

wrong in a way saying “virtually” you have been sneaky. Just say the truth; that because of the way American slavery was carried out in America most black people [probably 90% ] are of mixed race or ethnic heritage..American indian,white European,hispanic even Asian..why? because of the massive killing of “pure looking African people” basically weeding out pure blacks and mostly sparing the light skinned mixed ones..who went on to further the process by bein the main ones propogating that is one huge reason almost all of those current “mixed” blacks pass for white so easy..their “black” parents were barely black in the first place..one need only walk around and see the giant differences between Africans and American black people not all but probably 90% of us are more white than Obama..he is only 50% white

Bits

huh? okay so basically we agree on the same thing.

danielle

lighter skin African Americans do have more white ancestry. The average African American person has 15-20% white European ancestry. Our myriad of skin colors did not just come from Native American ancestry, which many blacks claim, but upon dna testing, do not have. I am a black woman, even though I my father is south east Asian (Indian). I was raised by a black woman, and didn’t even know I was half east Indian. Actually, I took the dna test from 23 and me, and I was 44.07% sub-Saharan African, 44% south east Asian, 4.9% European, 0.02% native American, 0.01% middle eastern and east Asian, and north African. However, I look like a black woman, so that is how I identify myself. I know this bother’s parents of mixed race children, but the world see’s us as black, it doesn’t matter if you are light or dark, most white people don’t even notice all the various hues of African Americans, they just know what a black person looks like to them, they are not thinking that a light skin person has more European blood, nor do they really care. By the way, Vanessa Williams was 54% European, and 46% subsahran African, Beyounce mom’s states native American and Creole, which usually means French European.

ellisd123

“YOU ARE PURE BLACK especially when every race traces back to Africa.”

Thereby implying that every person who lives in a country on the African continent is “black”. Egyptians, Algerians, Moroccans, and certain percentage of South Africans (to name a few) might have a bone to pick with that.

smittyt

Neither all the American whites but you people hate to hear that part.

TbeeZ

Nope. some of you all are Pure N!ggs

Ohemaa

True. The difference is ‘you’ tick the box black, black british, African American etc because that what you identify with. I am not talking about mixed blood because of a great great great x10 white grandfather.

WebAntOnYouTube

I don’t know. Some African Americans don’t look like anything but Africans.

dracus

You can’t say virtually all are mixed and then say none are pure. Virtually all are mixed means there are some who aren’t, and those who aren’t would be pure. Only if you said ABSOLUTELY ALL are mixed, would you be able to say that none are pure.

Just saying!!

Your statement shows me and everyone else on this post that you have very little understanding of racial identity in America.

jolie

that only applies to America, but in Africa where some of us are from millions are pure black, and mixed with black is the exception and not the rule. The world does not end in the United States of America FYI

Miss K

Amen.

Ohemaa

The fact remains that these people are not black. They are from mixed heritage. They arent claiming to be black. So why is an Arfrican American site claiming them by force?

Other1

Just in case you haven’t noticed, Hollyweird has “claimed” these people as “white”… was that by force?

Most African Americans are stilll mentally slaves. They view the world through the eyes of their oppressor

Beffa

I truly get what you’re saying and I agree but it seems here in America the 1 drop rule is still in play. How many times has the President been called our first African American President? He’s truly not since he is bi-racial but no one seems to see that. Add to that he seems to identify himself as black.

Miss K

Very true. No one refers to Obama as the first mixed-race president of the United States.

MeepMoop

They should.

TheMsmother

White people make sure to call him black. Look at the cute little slogans they come up with: “put the white back in the white house”. Or the come right out and say it signs “I do not support the n—-r in the white house.

R.S.

You are so high – blacks claim him as 100 percent black, yet his deadbeat African Daddy deserted him and his WHITE family raised him to be smart, etc,

TheMsmother

We claim him as black when he’s right and when he is wrong. BUT, you tell me what I said that was a lie. Come on, I’m waiting. You know damn well I’m right. What in the hell does who and how he was raised have to do with White people disrespecting him on a daily basis. Now the lowlife bastards have resorted to attacking his wife and children.

TheMsmother

LOL! Check out rmwayne’s comment below! Proves my point exactly!!

rmwayne

To call Obama white is ridiculous. His mother was white trash but he obviously hates white people and only surrounds himself with whites who are stupid imbeciles like that moron of a vice president and with black bigots like himself like Holder.

TheMsmother

What, in your opinion, made his mother white trash? She was a well educated woman from a good family. Come on, prove my point. You have some nerve calling anyone a bigot.

rmwayne

She was a mudshark coal burner and a left wing extremist. Enough said.

TheMsmother

Thanks for proving my point.

Understanding 18

She sure was! His Father, Mother, and Frank Marshall Davis which was his mentor are all commie/ socialists.

portugalwithablackgrandfather

your an idiot with no intelligence

rmwayne

You and the rest of the yard apes and wigger traitors who kneel at the altar of that jug eared half breed dictator Obama have already proven what retarded imbeciles you all are with your support of the worst excuse for a president in this country’s history.

TheMsmother

Awww, here we go!! I got some black @– so I know all black people. First of all, I know you caught hell because black men don’t like that isht no matter how many white women they date. NOW, on to the real issue. I don’t give a damn if someone hates me based on skin color. Just as long as you can’t stop me from living where I want, securing a decent job, eating in a restaurant, having a quality education, not profiling me and shooting because I look suspicious, etc. Have blacks ever done or had the power to do that to whites? Now ask the question the other way around. Just because there is a black behind sitting in the oval office doesn’t mean JACK. If anything it has really pissed the white powers to be off and they are making us feel it. How angry and disrespectful do you have to be to put a sign on your business that says “I do not support the n—-r in the white house”, or form things like the Tea Party, or threaten to seperate your state from the union? That last one was a perfect way to show terrorist how divided we are.

Other1

FYI, Obama parents were in college together, his father’s GPA was much higher than his mother’s…. Obama’s AFRICAN father was actually a brilliant man scholastically.

queenbee9

People are not raised to be smart. They either have innate intelligence which culture and means can nurture to advantage or they lack such intelligence and/or the means to nurture it.

In Obama’s father’s case–it was the African father who was the post graduate from college with an advanced degree, and it was the white mother who dropped out of college and ended up on food stamps.

As to the raising—it was the mistreatment by other whites along with his maternal grandmother’s own racist behavior which led Obama to identify with other blacks. There is nothing like the racism of humans to underline to people just how much outside a group they truly are. Even when whites take in a bi racial child or adopt a child of another race, often others within the white race take pleasure in making that child unwelcome-then by dint of maltreatment, many identify with being “other” no matter WHO is raising them.

lewr2

Actually, most white people I know don’t call him black, but bi-racial. Now, they may not say that to a black person for what they suppose may be a dust up considering how many blacks say that Obama IS black, when in fact, he isn’t.

queenbee9

Biracial is not a race it is simply saying a person’s race is comprised of 2 races–but based on the laws of miscegenation and the white purity laws (established hundreds of years ago and still on the books) Obama by being more than 12% black MUST be designated and described BY LAW as black. Look it up–then wonder why those laws have never been repealed.

Spm

I wish those laws were repaled IMO

queenbee9

So do I–they should have been repealed a long time ago–a lot of lives were ruined due to those laws and the mistreatment of people based on those laws and others.

Spm

Not every white person feels that way. and those slogans are dispicable. If he chooses to identify himself as Black, I have no issue with that. That is the race he identifies himself as. My daughters are biracial. We are bringing them up to be in the human race. Their vast heritage made them the beautiful young girls they are today. I want them to embrace their whole self. How they carry and identify themselves is how people perceive them. At least this is how it is for my family. My oldest child is in high school – she is proud of her “Mutt” heritage. (It is quite vast)

Cpt_Justice

Not ALL whites do that – just the stupid ones!

saje

I do…so does my brother. We are mixed. My Dad’s family (black) talk constantly about Obama being black. I make sure to point out he has two parents who equally contributed to his genomic makeup.

queenbee9

Based on white laws (still on the books) defining the races-Obama is black. The laws of miscegenation and the one drop rule are still on the books and are still used to determine race when considering the demographics for crime welfare, voting, scholarships,census, etc . Those laws state that any mixed race person with more than 12% of ANY race blood other than white MUST call themselves and be designated by that race and NOT by the white race–this is to maintain white purity. Whites cannot change the game of when to claim a race while enacting and enforcing laws only when convenient to themselves. LOOK IT UP and learn something.

queenbee9

That is because most people outside of scientists do not understand the term race which indicates an origin of a certain set and subset of features generalized over thousands of years with specific genes and phenotypes.

The term “mixed race” is a condition NOT a specific race and simply means a blend of two primary races. If more races are involved then the condition of the offspring is multiracial. It would take 1000s of years before the blend of black and white people or Asian and white people could become a “RACE” of their own.

The fact is, a mixed race person cannot reproduce another mixed race person (ie50% of their own “race” and 50% of another) Instead, when procreating, a mixed race person either dilutes their own racial make up further or creates a further mixture by combining with another of mixed race. Because they are not an original race, the offspring will ALWAYS be a serial dilution of a primary race.

The idea of designating people to race by skin color or now trying to make them choose sides is at its root– an invention by whites The attempts to negate or discount the “one drop laws” without ever repealing them or changing the definitions of the races is also a white invention.

Whites are finding their genetic identity negated by their own historical laws and practices, Curiously while trying to redesignate bi racial people they choose not to negate or address current racial stereotypes or laws.

queenbee9

Probably because genetically any black President would be of mixed race (we can’t determine by the most recent injection of any race but the actual composition–and very few blacks in the US are purely African.

rmwayne

You blacks can keep Obama. He’s the worst excuse for a president in this country’s history.

GTFOH

Worse than Bush? Both father and son?

Trolls love to come out to play when it comes to race discussions.

rmwayne

Much worse than either of the Bushes. Like I said, he’s the worst president in this country’s history. He won’t be happy until he’s completely destroyed this country. It’s so obvious, but blacks and white left wing extremists refuse to admit it.

Understanding 18

They will never admit it because Liberals hate the truth! The economy is in worse shape that it’s ever been, were experiencing a moral decline, Our national is surpassing $17 Trillion dollars and counting, health premiums are going up and people losing their jobs because of Obamacare, That Socialist/Fascist/ Commie is trying to destroy this nation! He has tricked black people into believing that he is for us when in reality he doesn’t care about us! Look at the crime rate in our communities and for an example in Chicago where he comes from he is doing absolutely nothing about it! Even Farrakhan doesn’t like him because he’s spoken out against him!

tracy

Mixed is black . It is not a new race. Everyone is from Africa and mutated out.The mixed may be white too but the black African will always dominate.

Lois

Mixed is NOT black. Black does not trump white unless you see it as inferior. They are BOTH. Stop claiming them. So ignorant. Yeah, the first girl is a “black” person. OK!

queenbee9

Look up the one drop laws. That is not a choice it is the LAW and they are still active laws–how race is determined in America–anyone with more than 12%of another race other than white CANNOT call themselves white and must in fact, be labeled by the minority race These laws are still in effect and determine our racial stats for everything from crime rates to poverty etc.don’t agree? Then change the laws -they have only been the law of the land for over 300 years now.

Then why is it still on record that if you have any Negro/Black blood you are black. IF THAT IS THE CASE THEN STOP CALLING ME BLACK CAUSE MY BLOOD HAS BEEN MIXED SINCE SLAVERY DAYS. THERE ARE NO PURE BLOODED AFRICANS IN AMERICA KNOWN AS BLACK.

Naomi Lotts

I completely agree, I’m french,Indian, and Black but because of my skin tone I will only be referred to as Black by White America. It is until the Multiracial/Black person has prominence and high accomplishments then they will refer to someone as mixed or part White. Beyonce has at often times been referred to as mixed or part White because of her complexion,accomplishments, and eye color but indeed she is an African American woman.

Diane

I agree people are so torn-either you are white or black. And based on your own beliefs and upbringing, being one or the other is “better”. But there is only one race-the human race. It’s naive to believe we are close to accepting that, but being open to our flaws and becoming a better person and teaching your children is the way to go. Everyone has opinions about race and how it’s viewed and degraded. But everyone of us is a bit (or some alot) racist. The fact hundreds of people are debating about who is “black” who is “white”, who is “mixed”; even talking about how culture views these people (which is a huge problem), but creating a whole article saying “hey these half white, half black people are black! but the media sees them as white”, is doing the exact same thing. I’ve seen multiple comments referring to Beyonce as having two black parents, and is black, but light skinned, when in fact her mother has native American and European heritage. Is she black? what is black? a percentage of dna? Looking black? identifying as black? People feel like we have to have an answer to this, for other people and ourselves. Yes, her dna is probably mostly african, but you know what else her dna, gave her? everything that you have inside you, just a little different to make us all unique and special. Her special was having a talent to entertain and sing. Yes of course be proud of your heritage! But every single one of us can work harder to make ourselves and the world more accepting of each other in every form, we can’t deny this and just act like everyone else has problems to work out not us. How can we love each other when so many believe we have to have labels, and just accept “that’s how the world is”. America has a bad bad history and view to overcome, but it’s all of our responsibility to make everyone equal, not just who we personally believe deserves it most.

IMHO

then please explain what is black. black means multiracial. saying half black or half other is redundant.

EBet

Say half black is not redundant. It is indicating how much a person is of African descent and how much of another descendency.

TheMsmother

That’s not the point. The point is most people would assume they are anything but black. It’s just interesting trivia, not a political statement. Relax.

TheMsmother

Until they do something stupid, then all of a sudden, white people make sure you know they are black.

Wendy Jean-Louis

So right. Don’t know why America still insist on telling bi-racial people they are black. And for the purpose of political correctiveness my foot. I just do not understand that concept of calling someone black, especially if they do not look like it. These people are clearly not of two black parents.

EBet

Bravo, I’m Hispanic, mostly of European descent, some American Indian. I celebrate both. I believe people should celebrate all sides of their history or ancestry. It is self-depracating to alienate part of who you are. “Do not wage war on yourself”.

Ashley Michelle

THANK YOU so much for saying this!

queenbee9

If mixed race is not black then start working on rescinding the laws of miscegenation that have been on the books in most states since the 1600s and are still on the books determiining what % of black must be absent in order for a person to be legally seen as “white” Unitl those laws are rescinded or repealed to be biracial with a black person is indeed to be BLACK

Audrey Mcdougle

Ohemaa, i’m just reading some of what is on this page, some I agree have validity some don’t,I think you need to revisit the history, I come from a mixture, I don’t want to run down the lineage, most of us who are black do have that white line that did participate in willingness or rape and we are a product of that result. no matter how you want to define it white will always see you as black, and if they see a blend of races they will ask you (what are you mixed with?) you don’t look like you are colored. how would you feel? personally I love the color of my bronze skin, and sandy blond hair not kinky and not straight hair. and darn proud, I for one do not covet the white skin. bi / mixed you are BLACK!!!!!!!!!!! deal with it.

queenbee9

Biracial people are called by the race that whites determined that they HAVE to be called by (there are white purity laws still in effect). That laws says anyone who is more than 12% of another race other than white cannot call themselves white but must identify themselves with that minority race. Look it up.

It is not about people deciding who they really are, it is about the laws of the land and how the racial laws which began in the late 1600s and are still in effect have not changed in over 300 years and are still being used in census and to determine how groups are labeled, scapegoated or polled.

When you see the stats on blacks to do with crime, and health and other issues RACE is considered and by law, biracial people, no matter how they self identify are perceived by the minority race they are unless the mixture is at least 3 to 4 generations removed.

I have worked the census, if you circle you are white and black and something else, you will be BLACK when data is tallied and the % are calculated

queenbee9

What do US laws(state by state) say about white race and who is and is not white?

DIGITALMAN

Why is it necessary for you to tell the public, who someone parents are?Why do you need to point out what race a person is?What do you gain by doing so?Shouldn’t any human have the right to their family PRIVATE history.

Chas

I’m sure MN has done this before.

Nope

These celebrities are only accepted as being Black because they aren’t taking too much attention away from Blacks. For example if any of these women had a twerking video out right now, this article wouldn’t exist, or there would be one about how they’re not really Black.

Sam_Sonite

I don’t understand any of what you said.

mbabb

In other words, they never felt proud of being black until later in life because they were able to receive all the breaks in life as long as people knew they were white. If this was about twerking they would keep their secret from the world because that is considerably embarrassing. However, today we have a black president, interfacial couples, black congressmen and etc… so now they have seen people that they can identify with because the other side of them isn’t so bad after all…

Intellectually abusing idiots

“In other words, they never felt proud of being black until later in life”

How do you know about the parts you weren’t there for?

blackbeauty

Another idiot thinking he or she knows what black ppl see, do, want, and feel.

Our history has been rich. Inventors, kings, not to add, we built America.

Your Mother

There are very few inventors of merit, no kings to speak of, and not much in the way of building America in your history. Like nearly all Americans, you came from meager beginnings, contributed little, and will probably die broke. Keep regurgitating that fantasy history if you like, but all you do is present yourself as an object of ridicule. That is a pretty lousy thing to do to other blacks who are not as insecure as you, but who are tagged with the ridicule you encourage by your stupid and childish embellished history. I hope you get over your hatred of whites, your self-loathing, and your ignorance of history so you can be as productive as your God-given talents and remaining time on this earth permit. Then your grandchildren can someday brag about you instead of ignore you or be ashamed of you, as they will be on your current train wreck of an existence.

Simone1908

You don’t know history. Try reading. Inventors, kings, and the building of America is our history. Instead of spewing hate, get a book and read. Preferably a history book. No, not the ones in schools today, but one that has Truth in it.

Destinie Indy Starr

You are as moronic as they come.

hub

I read somewhere that John Boehner has black blood. Is that true?

NM.

He has a black son in law.

MBabb

I agree

Al Sharpton

If Gabrielle Reece had busted a cap in Trayvon Martin all y’all would be calling her a cracka.

JustNutzy

Our president BO, is NOT black. He is bi-racial folks!

livin4daLAUD

No, he is Black and has a white mother. Do not try to diminish tbe President ‘s true identity. A play on words won’t work here. He is the 1st Black President of these United States of Amerca.

Prime499

Reading these comments is insane to me. I live in south africa where white is white, black is black, bi-racials have their own race which is called coloured (unless u’r a direct black and white offspring, then we say u’r mixed), indian is indian, chinese is chinese, etc. If you’re a mix of indian and black, that is what it is, you’re not called black. The same goes with any other mix. How can u be “black with a white mother”? What the hell is that? How do u know that the “black” came first. White people give black people way too much power in terms of genetics. For people who claim to be superior than other races (being that white is apparently superior), it surprises me how intimidating our race can be. What is even more sad is that the truth is that no one is a pure breed of any race…and race is so important…for what??

BlackUntil

Black genes are dominant and white genes are recessive. It’s as simple as that. Black DNA will override White DNA. Hence, even though the potus is a mixture of black and white DNA, notice that the black genes predominate in his makeup. Even if one can pass as white I believe they identify as black yet desire white privileges. There is however a small segment if mixed folks that truly feel inside that they are white or identify as such, yet the reality is: they are black. If blacks ruled the universe currently everyone would attach themselves to blacks and claim their heritage. Sad but true.

joline

Listen black genes are not always dominant. Anyways I have a half brother who f you looked at him you would think he is 100% white. His mother I 100% black. His father is Swedish. Second he makes no secret to himself indentifying as white. I always hear him say I am a Swedish man never in a million years would he identify with his mother’s race which is black. He always has considered himself white.

Alexis Morris

I never would have guessed troian bellisarrio is black

Miss K

I can’t believe Carol Channing practically passed her whole life. What a way to live. I’m sure many more bi-racial individuals from her time chose to pass their entire lives presuming they could get away with it.

Bobegrl

Get away with what?? They are equally white!!!!!

Mark French

Giving the benefit of the doubt, I think by ‘getting away with it’ she is just talking about what ‘passing’ meant decades ago when there was still stuff like Jim Crow laws and such. If you were mixed race but passed yourself off as white, I suppose it was considered getting away with something that wasn’t true so you could free yourself from the crummy way things were separated then. But I am only interpreting what she said. Not sure what the % was back then that your heredity had to be white vs. black to be considered white, but one white parent and one black was definitely considered to still be black as far as Jim Crow laws were concerned.

queenbee9

the laws of miscegenation have been on the books (and still are) in most states they determined the “one drop rule” which was codified into law in the late 1600s in Virginia with other states following by the early 1700s. IT IS THE LAW.

Based on white purity laws, a person has to be less than 12% black to be able to call themselves white–this is still the law–the only reason people are protesting this now is that white women want to be able to place their biracial offspring securely and safely within their own race as opposed to them automatically being labeled black.

Ironically it was white women who demanded that laws barring the sex from marriage and acknowledgment of offspring of white males and black females be instituted in the first place. at the time (in the late 1600s) white males were MARRYING black females and their offspring with those women were inheriting property and land as they grew up. The white women in fear of the loss of wealthy white males to the “exotic African females demanded that laws be enacted to protect white purity in order to protect the economic superiority and sanctity of the white race.

At that time, the majority of biracial children were the product or white males with black females (some willing, many through rape). As the law states, in order to be considered white legally, a person would have had to only have a black great great grandparent or had 3 passages with only whites–so that would give a person less than 12% black or African blood.

The idea of now changing this is not a product of enlightenment or racial growth it still stems from racial advantage–many famous people such as Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, Sade, Etta James, were biracial but due to the laws were deemed black therefore a lot of “talent could not be claimed by whites at all because they were essentially “hoisted by their own petard”. At this point, when Obama became the first black president and by identifying himself as a black male and enforcing that link by marrying a dark skinned black woman, many whites felt alienated. Many do not have anything against Obama personally but resent the idea that the “whiteness in his genetics was negated and ignored and he became wholesale black so that they could not claim any part of him despite him having a white mother” this unfortunate side effect is the result of WHITE LAWS and the idea that people are “multiracial or mixed race but failing to rescind the race laws is hypocrisy.

The one drop rule is powerful because it is convenient–when whites want to claim a person , deed, attribute or idea, they do not admit to copying or stealing but claim the “universiallity of that trait, and when whites want to claim an individual they try to do the same– if a biracial person commits a crime or is counted for negative behavior that same person is back to being labeled “black” and does not have the choice of being perceived as “white” unfortunately if the claiming is to be fair it must be consistent which is why the laws are still on the books and why despite the wishes of white mothers with biracial offspring, the children are still perceived as black–it is not a convenience term–it is a reality and inasmuch as people are often treated differently based on race–

Unless a person looks white and never lets on that they have a black parent, they probably in some way, also perceive themselves as black. White people have a tendency to underline the race of others outside their own race often condemning a race wholesale for the actions of a minority and then holding any representative up as a spokesperson to “EXPLAIN” why blacks behave a certain way–whether their “spokesperson” behaves that way or not–this kind of behavior insures biracial people feel certain aspects of white prejudice and by dint of that are more likely to identify with their black portion of their race when it comes to being maligned and latch on to the white aspects of their race when they want or perceive a chance for advantage in doing so.

aethel

Wow. I had no idea about “purity” laws. How can bizarre “purity” laws still be on the books anywhere? It’s no wonder racism in any of it’s shameful forms continues to exist. Even if such laws are now only “blue laws” in states where they exist, they need to be rescinded and eliminated.

It should always be an interesting experience to learn about our ancestors – to potentially learn about the origins of our genetic (e.g physical features) and cultural influences (ethnicities/nationalities of immigrant ancestors however and whenever they immigrated). We should never feel obligated to buy into the philosophy of superimposed “sins of the father” – like crimes our ancestors perhaps committed, and sure not the foolish racist nonsense that aims to make the circumstances of birth into being a “crime”.

Nina

Purity laws are not on the book anywhere. If a biracial wants to mark themselves as white, they damn well can. I do it when applying for jobs. It’s so pathetic how black people so desperately try to hold onto Biracials and whites with black ancestors. These people do not identify or mark themselves as Black. How does it feel as a black woman to know that no other race of women would claim anything that came out of your vagina but you are desperately trying to claim anything that comes out of theirs? Whites do see the difference between blacks and mixed race people accordingly. I know many of you wish it wasn’t true but it is. That’s why the first black title always goes to a biracial person and never a black person.

guest

I’m black and I could not care any less what ‘biracials or whites with black ancestors’ see themselves as they keep it moving and don’t bother me.

Freword

Not really

disqus_ofDb1rzx3B

michelle o’bama is black; coretta scott king is black, kenya moore is black, naomi campbell is black, vanessa williams is black; both parents albeit the are light. colin powell is black; both parents albeit carribbean; josephine baker wass black. some of these women were the first to do a lot. oh, thurgood marshall was black. to prove your stupidity you articulate well; but, use fallacies as facts for your premise. you arguably do not speak to enough blacks with white partents, from birth or adoption to know what you are saying. slavery created an ideology the for years many people, not all, were fored to embrace. no different than the removal of native americans from their lands or those whites considered as waste from your created laws that even the targeted victims were force to endoctrinate and propulgate from one generation to the next until a period of time allowed for more people, of diverse backgrounds, to rebel.

as a black woman in the south, i know of many white woman who admired certain black attributes, admittedly involved themselves with black men, at younger ages, had children, and attempted to exclusively list them as “white”. unfortunately, some met opposition by white hospital and vital statistics workers who would discretely post birth certificates listing the child as “black” or “other”. furthermore, i have gone to school with whites, whose parents had to admit the were “part black” upon them encountering blacks in high school with the same features and complexions and hair textures (remember some biracial offspring have the coily hair of blacks, with white skin or features; of a mixture of features). some of these same whites were bullied by other whites who told them they were not white. while some of those passing for whites were the most demeaning to us blacks, who could care less about them or even interact because they exemplified the ignorance you show here.

remember, black africans were enslaved in the americas by europeans, forced an image of themselves by an ethnicity initially foreign to africa (unless now, like some whites, you claim africa given it has the only evidence of the beginning of mankind; not to say the man did not exist elswhere but only in africa is the evidence), then told they were inferior when they had existed longer than any human on earth.

basically, i am saying to educate yourself before spewing baseless rhetoric. in no way can you quantify all blacks with your generalizations. remember, we to, some dark and some light, birth children of other ethnicities. are you arguing that our children are unwanted and their lineage would be unwanted if it included more non-black ethnicities.

furthermore, in alabama, i have seen more white men now willingly marrying black women, not just dating them, and more black men marrying white women. i have also seen more white people, married and not, adopt and love black children (from the darkest to the lightest) daring any person to say they should not. i have also seen biracial (with black as the other parent) children walk hand – in – hand with both parents. primarily, these people are of my generation, the 70s KIDS, who were for the most part forced into integrated schools (because black schools were not allowed the same funding opportunities as whites; in the south the other ethnicities were not thought of, but considered); another example of cultural norms changing how people think and impact the world.

nevertheless, i prefer relationships with black men because i am a black woman who think that compatability is awesome. that is not to say that white couples, hispanic couples, asian couples, native america couples aren’t awesome. yet, it is to allude that there are just as many happy, same ethnicity preferences that really do not shun any orientation of mixed ethinicity relationship preferences as long as love, respect, and adoration are significant factors. therefore, the offispring would not have ill-will for either parent’s ethnicity regardless of the relationship’s timeline.

miamac63

You truly spoke for me. Thanks.

alasia min

vanessa wiilams is 45% white, kenya moore has admixture, correta scott king is likely mixed, colin powell, josephine baker is mixed. is most definitely mixed. Basically, you just refused to recognized mixed people. Racist much

Eliza Miller

It’s about as racist as the old laws from just decades ago. 60 years ago Troian would be legally black by being 1/4 black based on the one drop rule. Technically every human being is “mixed” or not mixed depending on how you look at it. Blackness and whiteness are social labels. Race is not a biological fact.

gary

Race is a biological fact, but it doesn’t refer to skin colour so you are correct there, but rather refers to cranial, mandible, bone and cartilage differences. There are also other genetic factors in play that separates a white from a black man, but in regards to race, it’s specifically bone structure that archaeologists used to differentiate and determine “who’s from where”. The other differences in genetics however, for instance, Most Africans don’t contain the Neanderthal gene that Europeans and Asians have, albeit some SE Asians and Oceanic Pacific may also lack this ancient mix. One day it won’t be a matter of black or white, we will all be the same colour, after that it will be a matter of Martian of Earthling 🙂

tuttifrutti

What??? “That’s why the first black title always goes to a biracial person and never a black person?” You must have never taken any courses in African-American history, ever!!! In your quest to claim “White Privilege”. your obvious lack of knowledge about African-American history screams ignorance. Btw, ever heard of a man named Jackie Robinson?

miamac63

Nina, you sound like you have ‘color’ issues. Get therapy or do your homework.

Craig D. Casimir

you don’t know your own laws? the purity laws are still on the books… which is why it is ridiculous to even go forward with that “purple penguin” nonsense

Eliza Miller

What in the world are you talking about? Sounds like you have some issues to figure out.

You also have no sense of American history. Black people did not have control over definitions of white and black within the United States. If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at the history behind the society you live in that’s rooted in white supremacist ideals.

SLPG

Thank you

Just….stop

Thank her for making you dumber by making up a lot of phony history that you believed. You should be slapping her in the head for embarrassing us.

scmaize

Exactly! How did the poster/poseur get all those thumbs up? Juststop is far more correct than than queenbee.

umecc

It is true, the purity laws…I learned about them in school from a white history teacher

fhadley

Very well said Queenbee. I would imagine if it were not for the increased number of white women having non-white babies, we would not be having this debate on black white or mixed. For all intensive purposes, a person with black blood would and still is considered black. If a mixed person is pulled over by the police they will get a dose of reality that I hope white mothers are preparing their non-white children to deal with. It is amazing how not so long ago someone who looked like our President would not have had a chance in hell of being claimed as white.

I am one of these ‘white women having non-white babies’. I was married for twenty years to their father who is black. I am white. My children are not white nor are they black. They are bi-racial, they are human beings. I am preparing my daughters to be productive, educated and caring members of society and treat every single person no matter what color their skin with respect. That is what I teach. That is what I demonstrate.

Wairimu Mutiti

You are a very good person and a good mother. You are also doing the right things with your children. Anyone from any race or mixed race can make it in life as long they have chosen the right path. Of course they will encounter some form of negativities along the way, but as long as they are good, productive and educated human beings. That is all that counts. Because whatever race you are and you become a looser, no one will have respect for you., which counts in life in places where you live and work, and with those you interact with.

katrina shieldteg

I always thought robin williams was black he,s scottish irish german welsh french i heard many irish are a little bit dark in the history books it says if you had a drop of black blood that makes you black omg robin williams was one big gumbo pot of heritage

gary

Black Irish refers to the Spanish migration centuries ago. They had a slightly darker complexion, dark hair and brown eyes, but are still considered white Caucasians.

katrina shieldteg

Hi gary sounds like we have different points about our beloved robin williams black white scottish it doesn,t matter i love him just the same because to me he,s my brother and robin is one big gumbo pot of heritage you have your point of view i have mine

miamac63

Good for you. But unfortunately, this society and particularly some whites will still judge them on the melanin in their skin, their speech pattern, hair, etc. It is what it is. While some darker skin blacks ‘may’ give them a hard time, most blacks will accept them as being black. Whether you believe it or not and contrary to the picture society is painting, i.e. media, there are MANY black parents who prepare their ‘black children’ to be productive, educated and caring members of society, my mother being one and her descendants. My mom (who was married but divorced and thus on record became a single mom) was a lady of faith and would never condone us treating ‘any one’ different because of the color of their skin.

Julie B

So when your children are walking down the street, what do you think a white person sees? Is a prejudice person going to look at your child and say: wait, they are biracial and have some white in them. Um no. They are not going to break down your childs racial proportions and give them some kind of credit for being half white. They’re going to see a black person period.

Al Sharpton

Bullshit. Those laws were repealed or overturned in the 1960s.

Crazy n199er nonsense makes human beings laugh out loud.

You said WHAT!?

Good grief…you must be mentally ill. There is so much BS in your diatribe that I hardly know where to begin. Women had so much political power in the 1600’s that they were able to “demand laws!?” On what planet? Women were the property of their fathers and husbands in the 1600’s and most men were not even in a position to vote or demand anything, much less women! Are you high or just that ignorant of history? And “states” in the early 1700’s? What states existed until nearly a hundred years later? What state today has laws left over from when they were colonies of the Crown? Name the state and the statute! And somehow you know what most white people feel about Barack Obama’s half white heritage? Did you read their minds? If you are going to make crap up and post it on the internet, realize that there are at least a few people with college educations who are going to see through your revisionist history and poke holes in it. Busted. Quit posting fantasy facts and get a job. Obama needs your income tax for another vacation in Lahaina. That Secret Service crew and limo aren’t going to fly themselves.

Jason Smithfield

No offense, because a lot of what you say is true, but many countries base their entire legal and judicial systems off of the English system. Especially the United States.

Tlc

i know about these stupid laws, they should all be gotten rid of, children of “biracial” couples are people these kids may erase the racist on both sides and are not all black or all white, just stop the nonsense! They are both and are wonderful just like pure black and pure white are wonderful in their righteous Godly ways, not the evil ways of this world…

miamac63

Our agree, this world is quite evil.

Jazzy1691

I agree with your post Queenbee. It amazes me to hear white people get indignant that President Obama id’s himself as black. When all our lives we have been told that 1drop of African blood means you are black. At one time if you were biracial some were treated worse than the blacks who looked black. It’s a shame we are still debating this issue in 2013.

pgh

Get rid of the Al Sharpton’s, Jessie Jackson’s and Sheila Jackson Lee’s of this country and others of that ilk. Put people like Allen West and Dr. Carson in place of the Al Shapton’s etc. and see how quickly this country will come together. Until you get rid of the “race baiters”, the true white haters, nothing will change. Who the hell ever said all whites hate blacks! I am from the South and let me tell you that is not the case and never has been the case, but by “some”. Which I would advocate is the same from the Old North!

Jazzy1691

And what of the white race baters and haters, do you suggest we keep them? What a stupid statement. There are haters of each race and if you don’t know that then you are really out of touch with reality. White race haters have been around since blacks entered this country and they didn’t always use words they hung, shot and killed blacks freely. I think that is the real problem for people like you is that you can no longer just do those things without being exposed by the likes of Sharpton and Jackson. I guess you would be happy if blacks just closed there eyes to white hate instead of exposing it. Well those good times you racist haters enjoyed in the past is no longer an option and we won’t go back to what you think we should except.

lors

it’s so amusing how 1- you get to choose the appropriate pgh approved spokesmen for all of african america, i mean who elected you to be the decision maker for one and all and 2- I, my friends, family and colleagues of color are mostly intelligent educated people who can think for themselves; I never needed Al Sharpton et al to tell me who to love, hate or anything else and to believe that I need anyone (with all due respect to them) to dictate how we think, as if black america has one communal brain, is an insult. I am a grown up, my parents already raised me, and this “race baiting” of which you speak does not draw in everyone across the board. I make my own decisions, thank you.

Wairimu Mutiti

How right you are in you last sentence. And racism is so much here in America than anywhere else. In Countries like UK, Scandinavian countries, Belgium, Netherlands etc., they have mixed races. However they have put strict laws in place to discourage discrimination of any race. It is unfair to discriminate anyone no matter the race.

miamac63

“It is unfair to discriminate anyone no matter the race.” Teach that to racist and divided America.

Commentator

Get real. No-one wants to “claim” anyone. People say Obama is as much white as he is black because …. um, well, um, … he is. He does not “belong” to anyone. He does not act as the POTUS for any one segment of America. He represents us all. As Charlie Brown would say …. good grief. Since it doesn’t matter to me and if it makes you feel better, well then go ahead and believe what you want. I guess between the two of us we’re up a bit.

PinkCandy

You OBVIOUSLY haven’t experienced life as a black person. Otherwise you wouldn’t have made that comment. That comment comes from a person who has no clue what being black encompasses. You can only see if from your ignorant perspective, and by saying ignorant, I don’t mean to be rude, but it is. Apparently you can only understand the one drop theory if you are black. Otherwise there are people like you talking about “well, he’s just as much white as black”. But what do the police see when they pull him over? Do they see his white side? NO!

miamac63

Julie B, they don’t understand. And like you said, I can’t fault them. I love my beautiful brown glowing skin and they too should love their skin; God created us in ‘all’ flavors. But, it is what it is and the reality is, many still pre-judge and discriminate against those who have a lot of melanin in their skin. Period.

wilter3614

Just a couple of points…Obama never denied his white heritage, society did that for him. When he was running and during his presidency, he often posted pictures of himself with his mother and grandparents. He married Michele because that’s so he loves, not to somehow make himself seem blacker. There are purity laws. There are also laws against oral sex, sodomy, putting an ice cream cone in your pocket, etc. the fact that they aren’t rescinded gives no validity to their existence. And, at least through the 80s when I was growing up, I was designated white on medical forms and such because they chose my race according to the race of my mother. They ignored that I’m biracial and I certainly don’t “pass.”

yep

One drop of black blood.

Mo

You obviously don’t understand the history behind the term “One drop of black blood’. In the US mainly, if a person has a bit of black in them, they were black. It was a societal term, not a scientific one. Try learning the history of the US – especially the crazy rules and regulations of the old South!

IMHO

are you really that naive? what do you think black means? it is multiracial. saying half black or half other is redundant.

How then do you explain the fact that 70% of African Americans are mixed race? Or that many Hispanics have African roots and yet are not identified as black?

lets me hole a lead puncil

hispanics have african roots? you are a complete moron, not a mixed moron, not half anf half, you a pure bred moron! (the country of spain is right in the name hispanic, don’t worry, they will go over that when you hit 3rd grade)

Rae

You’re confused. In the U.S., the term “Hispanic” is a blanket term for anyone from a country with a historical link to Spain. In the U.S.,Sept 15- October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. Do you think we have a whole month just to celebrate Spain? No. “Guest” is saying is that many Hispanic people are pardo- they are mixed with African ancestry (slaves), European ancestry (oppressors), and indigenous ancestry.

DMACK

Moreover, the island of Hispanola encompassed the island of present day DR/HAITI

Al Sharpton

And look what a fine job of running the place the Haitians have done since they killed all the white folks.

LEGOates

You haven’t got the first clue do you?Let’s see… After having freed themselves, oh sorry, I meant to type: “killed all the white folks” – white folks whose harsh treatment resulted in an average life-span of less than 7 years* – Haiti was almost immediately quarantined by the US as well as nearly all of South & Central America (don’t want to chance the slaves back home getting any silly notions about individual human dignity or worth.) This in conjunction with most of Europe boycotting them (In large part the boycott was a result of US and, of course, French diplomatic pressure.) meant that the new Haitian economy, born from one that was already severely ailing, was not just sick, it was stillborn.

*The reason for this seemingly impossibly diminished life-span? Lots o’ dead babies, naturally! Of course, it only makes sense when it’s cheaper to import adolescent males than to provide enough resources to insure the survival of lazy children who can’t even do a decent day’s work prior to age seven or eight, THOSE *#@!&^% LEACHES!)

Ann

What???? Many hispanics do have African roots as many in the Caribbean are mixed with African, and some have Eureopean roots, i.e. Spain. They all call themselves hispanic. I have friends from Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. To look at them, one would think they were black, but as far as they are concerned, they are hispanic, first.

WTF

I think they say Latino for people from the islands and S.A.

quashi

Sorry to burst your bubble but you need to study beyond the 3rd grade,,,no matter how much you try to assimilate…Hispanics…even the ones claiming to be from Spain are traced to African ancestry. Hitler did not include you in his ire race….check it out…

Mel R.

So let me guess you didn’t know that when people migrated from the countries in Africa, some settled in Spain. Yes Hispanics are of African ancestry, just look at the ancient artifacts in South America and in Spain. Look at the facial features, the hair textures, yes very much African. Watch Hidden Colors, very enlightening.

Grace

Spain does not claim Hispanics as true Spanish; they are people that may have some Spanish but are mostly indigineous peoples.In reference to people from Cuba, Puerto Rico and some parts of Latin America, some indeed have African roots.

lets me hole a lead puncil

do you know what redundant means idiot? I don’t think so.

LowPressure

I didn’t know that Carol Channing had Black blood in her…..

Craig D. Casimir

nobody knew until a few years ago.. she hid it for 80 years- it probably would have affected her career

Al Sharpton

I can’t believe no one lynched her for being talentless and annoying.

333sturm

To think that Carol Channing was in any way “black” is just hilarious. Her mom told her, when she was in college, that her dad was half-black. So, someone who is 1/4 black, and who never identified herself as black or even mixed -race, should somehow be considered “black” is absurd.

blackbeauty

How idiotic is this comment! She didn’t know she was black, so she’s not black. Wtf

tootz

Black is beautiful!!!! Even if you dont want to believe it….its more than skin deep you Ignorant fools. I am mixed with so much it’s ridiculous to look at me you see black! to look at my children who are fathered by a white man you see white children with straight blonde hair and blue green eyes pale skin that barely tans…I am still their mother they are still black! If I die and their father were to marry a white woman they would still be black! If they didn’t remember me it doesn’t make them white ok dumb asses. Yes they could very easily pass for white people argue with me about if they are biological to me…yes they are black it’s running through their veins! And there’s always a chance their kids can come out dark chocolate. ..where will the arguments be then…..Their black

pyrusane

***they’re***

annie

why so pissed.

Mel R.

Well back in the day, if you were able to trace your black roots you were considered colored, negro, whatever they called it. So yes back then you were black if your Grandma was black, Great Great Grand Father was black and so on. Have you ever seen Queen? Look at Malcolm X, he is biracial, but does anyone talk about that, oh no of course not, because black always supersede

R Lane

I would have passed. Better that, than playing the maid or the mamie, or just singing in the movie and not having any speaking lines like lena horne. I would have passed for Casper the friendly Ghost if I had to. Because she would have been to white to be black for the hand full of black movies and too black ( even if she didn’t look it) to be cast in any white movies. White Hollywood would never have hired her if they knew she had even a drop of black blood. They would have slept with her. But that’s another story. Look at today, who is in the movie trailers and movies, who is sitting at the Oscars, Emmy’s, SAG, Zippity do dah awards, All White. And just like the TV shows, there may be one token black. Just call me CASPERetta!